Alejandro's Gift

This book felt about as dry as the desert in which it takes place. The illustrations are lovely and lush, but in my opinion the plot is lacking. However this book is a good example of the impact humans have on an ecosystem, both good and bad. I did like the glossary of animals in the back though.

The writing in Alejandro's Gift is a little dry, making it seem like it is for younger readers, but the information in the back of the book is enjoyable for all elementary readers. The book is written simply in a slow pace, with easy to understand language, but it is done so with the intention of understanding the slow pace of living in the desert and trying to grow a garden. That said, the dryness of the writing isn't very engaging and it was easy to lose interest. The only person in the book was Alejandro, and readers literally watched grass grow as animals came to check out his plants. The saving grace of this book is the informational section at the back of the book that details different types of animals that live in the desert. I show more found this very interesting, and strangely enough, it was much less dry than the rest of the book. Alejandro's Gift is a fine book, but like the desert, because of how slow and dry it is, I wouldn't recommend it. show less

A lonely old man, living out in the desert with just his burro for a companion, decides to start a garden. Soon he begins to notice visitors -- animal ones. He loves the company and wants more. Realizing the animals are coming for the water supply, he builds a bigger one for them -- a water hole. But the animals don't seem to come. Then he realizes they are afraid of him, so he builds another, more remote and sheltered, one. This is a great success, though Alejandro can only hear the success of it -- by the twitter of birds, the rustling of mesquite, the hoofbeats. He realizes instead of giving a gift to the animals, he has received one.

A beautifully and colorfully illustrated children's book in large soft cover. An older man lives alone in the desert with his donkey. He has a house, donkey shelter, and water. He's lonely and decides to plant a vegetable garden, which he irrigates. Soon animals are visiting his garden for a drink. He builds a water hole for the animals but finds they aren't coming to his new creation. Then he realizes it's too close to the house and the larger animals are afraid, so he digs a new water hole further from the house, surrounded by desert growth. Soon all the animals find this new watering hole and come. Alejandro no longer feels so alone, and the small critters still come to his garden. There are two pages of illustrations of desert show more animals and plants, including their habits. It's educational and the illustrations are superb. show less

The book could be a good introduction to the wildlife in the Sonoran desert, but kids will find it a little heavy-handed and text-heavy.

I found this book to be quite boring. The book is about a desert and giving water to animals in the dry climate. The language was easy to understand, but there wasn't much to the plot of the story. There were really no well-developed characters because the only person in the book was Alejandro. The only useful and interesting part of this book was the back that contained information about desert habitats. Overall, the book, much like a desert, was very dry and boring.

Read in a school textbook (LFL find). Not sure how much it's redesigned or abridged, so can't rate.
And I'm not sure it's a good idea to provide water for the critters... isn't it too likely to upset the balance of the web of life? And if you do want to water the mice and birds and deer and coyote, what about the peccaries? They tend to cause a lot of damage to trails, water holes, no?

Oct. 2023