This Place Is Dry (1989), a nonfiction children's book by Vicki Cobb, with illustrations by Barbara Lavallee, is a kid-friendly exploration of the Sonoran Desert in Arizona. Cobb touches upon a variety of subjects in her survey of this vast and arid place, from people and animals to plant life, weather, and the engineering feat of the Hoover Dam. Part of the Imagine Living Here series, This Place Is Dry is appropriate for readers in grades three through five. The book opens with Cobb encouraging readers to picture themselves in the Sonoran Desert on a typical summer day. On this average day, the temperature will reach an astonishing 130 degrees. The hot air is intense and all consuming. Yet, we notice that we aren't sweating; due to the fact that the air is so dry, sweat immediately evaporates. But we are sweating and sweating a lot. It will only take an hour for an adult to lose a quarter of their body's water supply, and less than one full day to die from dehydration. A desert, Cobb writes, is a place that gets less than 10 inches of rainfall every year. Yet there are deserts, like the Sonoran, that are known as green deserts because of the abundance of life that flourishes there. How, then, does anything at all survive in such a harsh, unforgiving environment? For plants, the answer lies in the survival mechanisms they've developed. Many enter a period of dormancy, almost like hibernation for plants. This is a reduced state of functioning that restricts their need for nourishment; with less energy output comes fewer fuel requirements. When it rains, however, these plants shoot back to life and experience remarkable growth and verdant lushness in just a few weeks' time. Cobb uses the creosote bush, also called a greasewood tree, to illustrate this point in more detail. Plants also take advantage of every second of rainfall. They soak up as much rain as possible to make new seeds, thereby ensuring the survival of the species. Plants store water as well, with the cactus serving as perhaps the most famous example of this ingenious ability. Through their shallow root systems, cacti absorb water and store it in their stems. After a rainfall, cacti stems swell with their recent bounty. As they "drink" the water over time, the stems gradually reduce back to their normal size. Though there are many varieties of cacti in the Sonoran Desert, it is most famous as the home of the saguaro cactus, as it is the only place in the world where saguaros grow. They live to be at least 75 years old and grow to more than three stories in height and several tons in weight. Unfortunately, pollution and encroaching civilization have endangered the saguaro. Sonoran cacti also provide hydration for the many of the animals of the desert, such as cattle and javelinas; the prickles and spikes of the stems do not deter these creatures. These are just some of the diverse animal life Cobb discusses in This Place Is Dry. Among others, she profiles pack rats, tarantulas, and, of course, rattlesnakes to show how they live, harvest food, and find water in such an inhospitable landscape. Cobb also looks at some of the people who call the Sonoran Desert home, including indigenous communities and cowboys. People who live off the dry land must become quite resourceful to make sure they can meet their basic needs. There is another feature of the Sonoran Desert that makes it distinct from other desert locations: the Hoover Dam. Located on the Arizona-Nevada border, the Dam remains even today one of the greatest engineering accomplishments in American history. Cobb explains how the structure came about; its goals of containing Lake Mead, controlling floods, providing a source of irrigation water, and producing hydroelectric power; and the arduous process of its construction. In the end, This Place Is Dry is a celebration of all the things that make the Sonoran Desert a unique—and uniquely magical—place. It is a testament to the power and fortitude of Mother Nature, who designed wildly inventive ways for life to not just appear here, but to thrive. Cobb's background as an educator places her in the perfect position to explain difficult scientific subjects—including animal and plant biology, engineering, and even a bit of cultural anthropology—in ways that children will not only understand but that will keep them engaged and turning the page. This Place Is Dry does not gloss over the more challenging aspects of surviving in an arid desert climate, but it shows the remarkable ability living things have to adapt, despite the limitations of the world around them. There is a larger lesson here, one that can be helpful for children. This place is dry, but we find nourishment where we can. And, as a result, we blossom.

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Vicki Cobb

Middle grade

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Nonfiction

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