In this Southwestern-themed picture book, all kinds of prickly guests gather for a daylong celebration.
Cacti are both hosts and guests in this tale. With few exceptions, each full-page spread includes text on the top portion (the book is held calendar-style) consisting of rhyming couplets plus an additional line always ending in “party”; the bottom part features the illustration. The opening, for example, reads: “In the desert when the days are hot, / the cacti always find a spot… / to have a party!” Below is depicted a dry desert landscape with mountains, bare sand, a few saguaro, a lizard, and a javelina. Party-ready cacti include saguaro, jumping cholla, ocotillo, a pencil cactus (who sketches simple images of the more detailed, complex illustrations), and more. Eating pies and singing songs are the main entertainment, and next year, they’ll do it again. Biefeldt (Greg’s First Flying Lesson, 2014) offers an amusing way to learn about the cactus varieties growing in the Southwest, helped out by the bouncy rhyme and meter. The cactus names are recapped on the last page. It would have been helpful to include here a list of the many desert animals depicted, some of which may be unfamiliar, like javelina and quail. Baker (Makieba’s First Pajama Party, 2016, etc.) deftly mixes realism and a cartoon style in her images; both animals and cacti are given anthropomorphic smiling faces, and the background varies from frame to frame.
A fine read-aloud tale with lots of let’s-party energy.