Dig, Wait, Listen: A Desert Toad's Tale

by April Pulley Sayre, Barbara Bash (Illustrator)

Overview

The desert Southwest
is full of sounds.

Skitter, skitter, scratch.
A scorpion is crawling.
Pop, pop, pop.
kangaroo rat is hopping.
Tsk, tsk, tsk.
A rattlesnake is
shaking its tail.

But the spadefoot toad
is quiet in her
underground burrow,
listening for one sound
in particular...
What is that sound?
And what will the
spadefoot toad do
when she hears it?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780688166144
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/20/2001
Edition description:	1 ED
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.25(d)
Lexile:	490L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

April Pulley Sayre is the award-winning creator of numerous books for children, including the acclaimed Raindrops Roll, Best in Snow, and Full of Fall. She has traveled to many places to observe, investigate, and photograph the world. The stunning photographs in Cityscape illuminate basic concepts of art, science, design, engineering, math, construction, and language arts for budding engineers, artists, architects, construction workers, and poets alike! April Pulley Sayre lives in South Bend, Indiana. You can visit her online at www.aprilsayre.com.

Jacket photography © 2018 by April Pulley Sayre

Barbara Bash is pictured here with the spadefoot toad that lived in her studio while she worked on this book. The artist has written and illustrated a number of award-winning books on natural topics, including Desert Giant: The World of the Saguaro Cactus. She lives with her husband and son in the Hudson Valley of New York.

Editorial Reviews

PreS-Gr 2-Under the sand, a spadefoot toad waits for the sound of rain. She remains in her burrow as creatures, including peccaries, a rattlesnake, and a kangaroo rat, pass above her but finally emerges to lay her eggs when the distinctive patter of rain begins. Clear, often lovely watercolors illustrate the creature's wait, the desert animals, and the brief time the toad and tadpoles spend on the desert floor after the rain. The nature lesson is propelled by frequent sound effects and the palpable need for rain. Notes at the end give additional information on the habits of this toad and her animal neighbors. Pair this title with Lynn Stone's Desert Animals at Night (Rourke, 1997) or Bash's Desert Giant (Little, Brown, 1990) for a look at desert life. Or, compare the spadefoot toad with her flashier amphibian relatives of the rain forest in Joy Cowley's The Red-Eyed Tree Frog (Scholastic, 1999). The only book for children specifically about the spadefoot toad, Sayre's title is a useful and pleasing addition.-Ellen Heath, Orchard School, Ridgewood, NJ Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

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