THE DREADED CLIFF

Flora the packrat lives her packrat life in her beloved nest amid her cache of treasures.

However, her peaceful life is overshadowed by the dreaded cliff, a crack in a nearby outcropping with an ominous place in packrat legend. Like other packrats, Flora has been told to beware of the dreaded cliff and to avoid it. And so she does, until an encounter with a packrat matriarch sheds light on the real story and the tragic events that occurred there. The story arc takes Flora on a journey far from her home, where she meets new friends and learns about differences and balance in the natural world before returning to confront the dreaded cliff once and for all. Help comes from unexpected places and, finally, from within. This is a delightful story for young readers interested in animals and nature; the story, written by a former National Park Service ranger, is rich with scientifically accurate details about the desert species that populate Flora’s landscape. Additional factual information about the species in the book can be found in the author’s notes. The book is also a feast for developing vocabularies, as Flora—who talked early—loves words and puns. The resulting text is linguistically rich and frequently humorous. Spot art at the beginnings of chapters helps readers visualize the animals and setting, enhancing the mood of the story.

An entertaining animal adventure.