Southwest Children's Literature

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Storm on the Desert

Book Review:

It is quiet in the desert tonight, coyote yawns as a sliver of moon appears in the sky. Other desert creatures go about their business in the warm air. Slowly the sky turns dark the hot air thickens with the smell of creosote. Then the rain starts, lightly at first, building to a final crescendo. A cacophony of sound fills the sky with fury, lightening crashing above the earth. Desert animals scatter for shelter under a torrential down pour. The rain ends with a rainbow promise, painting the desert with rich color bathed in sweet clean smells. Auroras filled with rain subside into delicate rivulets. Once again coyote yawns as the evening star appears.

The poetic narrative of Carolyn Rand comes into vivid focus under the talented hand of Ted Rand. His pencil sketches enhanced by pastel and watercolor create vivid images of desert creatures streaking across the page like shadows through the raging storm. Rand uses muted colors of gray/blue and black streaked with white to bring the storm to life. Colors of the rainbow create the blossoms and desert animal life, drawn large in the foreground ending the storm, inviting the viewer in.

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