Creatures of the Desert World

The first of six colorful pop-ups in Creatures of the desert world depicts early morning in Arizona’ s Sonoran Desert as bobcats and birds around a large saguaro cactus dramatically lift off the page when the book is opened. The subsequent pages follow the vibrant and alive desert environment throughout the day into a full moonlit night when the night hunters, including bats and kit foxes, begin their search for food. Rattlesnakes, roadrunners, coyotes, owls, jackrabbits, and tarantulas are among the animals living in the desert environment featured in the other pop-ups in this book. The illustrator, Barbara Gibson, worked with both natural science specialists to develop accurate scenes and a paper engineer to put the animals and plants in action. In the 1980s-1990s, National Geographic created more than 20 titles such as this work as part of their "A National Geographic Action Book" series to educate and delight children of all ages.