Around One Cactus: Owls, Bats and Leaping Rats Book

This caught my attention because of the illustrations. There is an especially gorgeous one of saguaro cactus, a boy, and several desert creatures silhouetted against a sunset. But once I started reading, I wasn't very thrilled with the text. I don't always like rhyming text, and while this is pretty well done, I also didn't like the use of repeating lines that add on with each new animal introduced. The combination of rhyming and repeating text makes it feel like this was written for very young children. Yet the vocabulary used is clearly for older children. (In fact, the AR reading level is 6.1 - which is sixth grade.) The field notes at the end are a bit overwhelming with their detail after the sparse detail given in the actual text of the book. I did like the inclusion of a "fantastic fact" about each of the desert animals mentioned. Even though the illustrations are eye-catching and very nice, I think there are better books about there for teaching the desert habitat. (Two stars for the text, four for the illustrations.)