Sra: Imagine It!, Themes, Taking a Stand, Ancient Civilizations Ecology, Great Expectations, Earth in Action, Art and Impact, Level 6

Lasky grew up telling stories: "When I was growing up, I was always thinking up stories ... I was a compulsive story maker." Although she was a great story maker, she kept her stories a secret because she did not think being a writer would be a good career. She continued to write as a hobby while she was a teacher. With encouragement from her parents and her husband, Christopher Knight, she decided to publish her first book, Agatha's Alphabet. Today she writes for both adults and children, and she has written more than eighty books.

Christopher G. Knight

Knight became interested in photography when he was thirteen. He began his career by photographing a forty-seven-page article for National Geographic. He teamed up with his wife, Kathryn Lasky, to create children's nonfiction books. Knight also runs a film company that produces documentaries that can be seen on many PBS television programs.
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Ecology: Theme Connections

Within the Selection

Across Selections

Beyond the Selection

Write about It!

Write a brief letter to Lowman in which you ask her a question you have about her experience in the rain forest canopy.

Remember to look for information about rain forests and the insects and animals that live in rain forests for the Concept/Question Board.

Genre

Feature

The warm, humid tropical rain forests give life to more species of plants and animals than any other ecosystem. With this richness of life comes fierce competition for survival.

Sun-loving trees spring from the ground and race to the canopy . There they spread their branches and shut out the sunlight below. Vines climb the canopy and the emergent trees to spread their leaves in the sunlight. Some plants adapt to the dark area under the canopy. They grow leaves broad enough to gather the limited sunlight.

Rain forest trees spread networks of tiny roots over the ground. These roots gobble nutrients before they even enter the soil. In the canopy, bromeliads cannot retrieve nutrients from the soil. They grow large flowers and use nutrients from the wastes of animals that make homes in them.

The traits of individuals are passed from parents to offspring. These traits are carried in cell parts called genes. At the beginning of a plant's or animal's life, genes place orders for certain traits.

Fossil records show that plants and animals of the rain forest as well as those from other environments have changed over time. Scientists believe these changes helped different species survive in their environments.

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Species Change to Survive

Only some plants and animals live long enough to reproduce. They are usually the ones with traits that help them survive. For example, the fastest cheetahs catch food and survive; the fastest deer outrun the cheetahs and survive; the tallest giraffe can reach enough food to survive; and the anteater survives by growing a long snout and tongue that can reach down into ant holes. These survival traits are passed on in the species' young. Soon, the whole species carries these traits.

Each species must find a place for itself in its ecosystem. This is especially true of an environment as full of life as a rain forest. The unusual and amazing life forms found there must struggle and adapt to thrive.

How does the first heading help you understand why the details in the section are important?

Why do species change over time?

Think about some plants and animals that live in the wild. What traits help them survive in their environment? Pick one species. In that species, which survival traits are likely to be passed on?

Try It!

As you work on your investigation, think about how you can use headings to organize your information.

Vocabulary Strategy

Pablo loved the desert. When he retired, he decided he wanted to make his home there.

Pablo left his wife, Anna, in the city. "I'll build us a beautiful home. Then you can join me."

To build his home, Pablo made adobe bricks. First, he mixed the adobe clay with straw. Then he shaped the bricks and baked them in the sun for a week.

Pablo wanted his children and grandchildren to visit often. He needed an ample house with many rooms. That meant he needed to make plenty of bricks.

Building the house was hard work. Pablo had to endure long hours of work in the heat, but when he finished, he decided it had been worth all the drudgery . He cherished his new home, and he was sure Anna would too.

After the house was finished, Pablo went back to the city. He and his wife packed everything they owned into a trailer, and they drove to their adobe house. Anna enjoyed pointing out the change in the animal habitats during their trip from the city to the desert.

When they finally arrived, Anna walked around the outside of the house. She opened the front door, poked her head inside, and walked in. She went from room to room.

"Oh, Pablo! It is beautiful. I love our home in the desert," she said.

Soon it was time to plant the garden, so Pablo bought a burro to help him plow. Anna patted the burro warily , and they became friends. The burro pulled the plow to dig furrows in the ground into which Pablo put the seeds for vegetables. He planted beans, squash, and peppers.

Anna helped in the morning, but she shunned the midday sun, when its rays were hottest. An hour before noon, she went into the house and cleaned. She came out later in the afternoon.

After the garden was planted, the children and grandchildren came to visit. They loved the desert too. When they left, they promised to visit often. Anna and Pablo watched them drive away. Then they turned and went back into their cherished desert home.

Game

Concept Vocabulary

The concept word for this lesson is biodiversity. Biodiversity means "a variety of different plant and animal species in an environment." What does biodiversity have to do with ecology?
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Genre

Comprehension Strategy: Predicting

by Richard E. Albert

Focus Questions

How will Alejandro and the animals benefit from Alejandro's gift? What will Alejandro learn from the animals in the desert?
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Alejandro's small adobe house stood beside a lonely desert road.

Beside the house stood a well, and a windmill to pump water from the well. Water for Alejandro and for his only companion, a burro.

It was a lonely place, and Alejandro welcomed any who stopped by to refresh themselves at the well. But visitors were few, and after they left, Alejandro felt lonelier than before.

To more easily endure the lonely hours, Alejandro planted a garden. A garden filled with carrots, beans, and large brown onions.
Tomatoes and corn.

Melons, squash, and small red peppers.

Most mornings found Alejandro tending the garden, watching it grow. These were times he cherished, and he often stayed for hours, working until driven indoors by the desert heat.

The days went by, one after another with little change, until one morning when there was an unexpected visitor. This visitor came not from the desert road, but from the desert itself.

And because he felt less lonely, Alejandro found himself hoping the squirrel would come again.

The squirrel did come again, from time to time bringing along small friends.

Wood rats and pocket gophers.

Jackrabbits, kangaroo rats, pocket mice.

Birds, too, became aware of Alejandro's garden. Roadrunners, gila woodpeckers, thrashers.

Cactus wrens, sage sparrows, mourning doves, and others came in the evening to perch on the branches of a mesquite bush, or to rest on the arms of a lone saguaro, before dropping down for a quick drink before nightfall.

Occasionally, even an old desert tortoise could be seen plodding toward the garden.

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Suddenly, Alejandro found that time was passing more quickly. He was rarely lonely. He had only to look up from his hoe, or from wherever he might be at any moment, to find a small friend nearby.

He began to realize that his tiny desert friends came to his garden not for company, but for water. And he found himself thinking of the other animals in the desert.

Animals like the coyote and the desert gray fox.

The bobcats, the skunks, the badgers, and long-nosed coatis.

The peccaries, sometimes called javelinas, the short-tempered wild pigs of the desert.

The antlered mule deer, the does, and the fawns.

The something else, Alejandro decided, was a desert water hole.

Without delay, Alejandro started digging. It was tiring work, taking many days in the hot desert sun. But the thought of giving water to so many thirsty desert dwellers more than made up for the drudgery. And when it was filled, Alejandro was pleased with the gift he had made for his desert friends.

There was good reason to suppose it would take time for the larger animals to discover their new source of water, so Alejandro was patient. He went about as usual, feeding his burro, tending the garden, and doing countless other chores.

Days passed and nothing happened. Still, Alejandro was confident. But the days turned to weeks, and it was still quiet at the water hole. Why, Alejandro wondered, weren't they coming? What could he have done wrong?

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It suddenly became very clear why Alejandro's gift was being shunned.

Alejandro couldn't believe he had been so thoughtless, but what was important now was to put things right as quickly as possible.

Water hole number two was built far from the house and screened by heavy desert growth. When it was filled and ready, Alejandro waited with mixed emotions. He was hopeful, yet he couldn't forget what had happened the first time.

As it turned out, he was not disappointed.
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The animals of the desert did come, each as it made its own discovery. Because the water hole was now sheltered from the small adobe house and the desert road, the animals were no longer fearful. And although Alejandro could not see through the desert growth surrounding the water hole, he had ways of knowing it was no longer being shunned.

By the twitter of birds gathering in the dusk.

By the rustling of mesquite in the quiet desert evening telling of the approach of a coyote, a badger, or maybe a desert fox.

By the soft hoofbeats of a mule deer, or the unmistakable sound of a herd of peccaries charging toward the water hole.

And in these moments when Alejandro sat quietly listening to the sounds of his desert neighbors, he knew that the gift was not so much a gift that he had given, but a gift he had received.

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The Arizona Pocket Mouse eats many kinds of seeds and can hibernate when food cannot be found.

The Black-Tailed Jackrabbit has very large ears, which help keep it cool in hot weather. It also has very large feet, which help it run quickly.

The Cactus Wren is the largest North American wren-- growing up to 9 inches long. It lives in nests in clumps of mesquite on desert hillsides.

The Collared Peccary ( peck -a-ree) resembles a wild pig but has a snout that points upward. It eats cacti--especially prickly pear, which it devours spines and all. During the midday heat, peccaries often sleep in hollows in the ground.

The Curve-Billed Thrasher is about the size of a robin. It has a long, curved bill and red eyes. It lives in cactus deserts and eats insects.

The Desert Tortoise stores water in a pouch beneath its shell. It hibernates underground from October to March. Desert Tortoises can grow up to 15 inches long.
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The Elf Owl is the smallest American owl and is no bigger than a sparrow. It lives in saguaro deserts and feeds on large insects.

The Gila Woodpecker nests in holes in giant saguaro cacti. Its feathers are patterned in black and white stripes. Males have a small red cap, while females and young birds have plain brown heads.

The Gray Fox is mostly active at night, but can sometimes be seen during the day looking for food. They are the only canids (the family of wolves, foxes, coyote, and dogs) that can climb, and they often rest in trees.

The Greater Roadrunner is a tall bird (20 to 24 inches) that rarely flies, running instead on strong feet. It eats a wide variety of small animals, including snakes, lizards, and scorpions.

The Mourning Dove's name comes from its melancholy cooing, which is its mating call. Mourning doves can be found all over North America.

The Phainopepla (fay-no- pep -la) is a tropical bird with an elegant crest on its head. It eats mistletoe berries and insects, which it snatches right out of the air.

The Saguaro (sah- gwar -oh) is a cactus that can grow up to 60 feet tall. It provides fruit for many desert creatures, and bears white flowers.

The White-Throated Wood Rat usually lives in the base of a cactus, and it uses the cactus needles to hide the entrance to its home.
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Meet the Author

Richard E. Albert

Albert wrote and sold many "pulp westerns" early in his writing career but spent most of his life working as an engineer. After his retirement he began writing for a younger audience, and Alejandro's Gift is a result of that new focus.

Meet the Illustrator

Sylvia Long

Long started illustrating children's books after working several years as a fine artist. Her love of the outdoors and animals has been an inspiration for her wonderful illustrations. Some of the books she has illustrated have become best sellers, including Fire Race and Ten Little Rabbits.
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Ecology: Theme Connections

Within the Selection

Across Selections

Beyond the Selection

Write about It!

Based on the information in "Alejandro's Gift," write a set of instructions for the proper placement of a desert water hole for animals.

Remember to look for information about a desert habitat and the plants and animals that live in such a habitat for the Concept/Question Board.

Genre

Feature

Water may be Earth's most valuable resource. All of Earth's organisms depend on it for life. In any ecosystem, a drop in the water supply can have serious effects.

97% Ocean Water

3% Freshwater

Close to three-quarters of Earth's surface is covered with water. Yet people have only a limited amount of freshwater they can use for farming, industry, drinking, and cooking.

About ninety-seven percent of Earth's water is salty ocean water. It is not good for drinking. The human body cannot process water that is saltier than blood.

Of Earth's freshwater, most is frozen in glaciers and ice caps. Less than one percent of Earth's water is in rivers, lakes, and other bodies of freshwater. Some freshwater drifts through the air as water vapor or clouds.

More than half the water that enters homes and businesses leaves as wastewater. It goes into sewers, rivers, or oceans. This wastewater pollutes much of the world's freshwater. Polluted water cannot be used for drinking. Fertilizers and pesticides also pollute water.

Since early times, people have used the energy in moving water to turn the waterwheels that powered grindstones, mills, and machines. Water powered the machines used in the first large factories.

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Modern power plants convert water power into electric energy. The moving water strikes the blades of a turbine. Its energy spins the turbine, which powers the generator that makes electricity.

The water in lakes, rivers, and streams is renewable. Water constantly evaporates and falls as rain. Even so, water is limited. The world's population keeps growing. Meanwhile, the amount of water on Earth remains constant from year to year.

The water supply is also distributed unevenly. Some of the world's people enjoy ample water supplies. Others endure thirst and drought. The proper use of Earth's water is an issue that needs constant attention.