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Rating: 
Summary: A colorful and engaging story
Review: The collaborative effort of author Jennifer Ward and illustrator Mike K. Ranger, The Seed And The Giant Saguaro is an absorbing picture book about how a variety of desert animals contribute to the planting, growth, and life of a Giant Saguaro cactus. The narrative is written in a "This is the house that Jack built" style, with each new page spread adding another line to the saga of the cactus' rise from a little seed. A colorful and engaging story, The Seed And The Giant Saguaro is especially appropriate for children ages 3 to 6.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: This book, written in playful rhyme, chronicles how a "seed so black and tiny" travels through the desert and eventually takes root in the earth, growing into a giant sanguaro. Helping along the way is a packrat who carries the fruit which contains the seeds "with a great deal of worry." Why? Because he was being chased by a "snake that slid with no sound" who, by the way, is being followed by a "bird that raced on the ground" who is . . . well, you get the picture. The double-page spreads-done in rich greens, purples, golds, and yellows-illustrate the desert flora and fauna wonderfully. Readers will enjoy the discovering the clever details found throughout the book. The author has included a "timeline" of how saguaros grow in the Sonoran Desert in addition to a page of "Fun Facts" about the creatures mentioned in the story. Did you know, for example, that coyotes can "dash" up to 30 miles per hour! This fun read-aloud was a huge hit in every classroom in which we reviewed it. The text's repeating rhyme, written in the style of "This is the House That Jack Built," allowed students the opportunity to predict what the speaker was going to say. In addition to being used as an engaging tale for storytime, it can also be used to build phonemic awareness and to enrich social studies units on deserts, plants, and more. Highly recommended. Reviewed by the Education Oasis staff.
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