CAROLYN LESSER

STORM ON THE DESERT
by Carolyn Lesser, illustrated by Ted Rand
Published by Harcourt, 1997.

Award:  The John Burroughs Award for excellence in Nature Writing for Young Readers, Reviewed in Nature, by Jean Craighead George.
From the American Museum of Natural History, New York, 1997.

Kirkus Review, April 15, 1997, (pointer review)

     Lesser uses poetic prose and vivid language to give splendor and life to a natural event.  Rich in detail and carefully paced, the drama takes place in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona, where the first whispers of a desert storm arrive on a scorching wind, followed by a full fury as “bony fingers of lightning streak, strike,” and then by the hush of the sunset breeze in the cooling desert stillness.  A wealth of desert creatures and plants are include in the text and illustrations…

     Rand works in chalk, pastel, pencil and watercolour, capturing nature with a masterful economy of line.