Howard Rice

Howard Rice
 Table of Contents
Consultant Publishing Credits
Timothy Rasinski, Ph.D. Dona Herweck Rice, Editor-in-Chief
Kent State University Robin Erickson, Production Director
Lee Aucoin, Creative Director
Where Are You?...............................4
Conni Medina, M.A.Ed., Editorial Director
Jamey Acosta, Editor
Stephanie Reid, Photo Editor
What Is a Desert?..............................6
Rachelle Cracchiolo, M.S.Ed., Publisher

Where Are They?............................12

Image Credits
Cover Frank Bach/Shutterstock; p.3 Isabella Pfenninger/Shutterstock; p.4 imagebroker rf/Photolibrary;
How Are They Formed?................16
p.5 Tischenko Irina/Shutterstock; p.6 Rechitan Sorin/Shutterstock; p.7 top: Arkady/Shutterstock; p.7 bottom:
Galyna Andrishko/Shutterstock; p.8 USGS/www.ga.water.usgs.gov; p.9 Photomorphic/iStockphoto; p.10 top: Pete
Turner/Getty Images; p.10 bottom: EuToch/Shutterstock; p.11 top: hainaultphoto/Shutterstock; p.11 bottom:
Galyna Andrushko/Shutterstock; p.12 EuToch/Shutterstock; p.13 Cartesia; p.14 Cartesia; p.15 top: Evgeniapp/
Can Anything Live There?............24
Shutterstock; p.15 bottom: Patrick Poendl/Shutterstock; p.16 Tim Roberts Photography/Shutterstock; p.17
Anthon Jackson/Shutterstock; p.18 Pichugin Dmitry/Shutterstock; p.19 top: Arkady/Shutterstock; p.19 Pichugin
Dmitry/Shutterstock; p.20 Zeljko Radojko/Shutterstock; p.21 Wolf Lang - CNImaging/Newscom; p.22 Isabella
Pfenninger/Shutterstock; p.23 top: Vladimir Wrangel/Shutterstock; p.23 bottom: david vadala/Shutterstock; p.24 Glossary............................................28
top: Joe Belanger/Shutterstock; p.24 left: Arkady/Shutterstock; p.24 right: efendy/Shutterstock; p.25 Caitlin Mirra/
Shutterstock; p.26 left top: Jeffry M. Frank/Shutterstock; p.26 left bottom: Litwin Photography/Shutterstock;
p.26 right top: Tom McHugh/Science Photo Library; p.26 right bottom: Wild At Art/Shutterstock; p.27 Darren J.
Bradley/Shutterstock; p.28 Keattikorn/Shutterstock; back cover Tischenko Irina/Shutterstock; background nito/
Shutterstock

Based on writing from TIME For Kids.

TIME For Kids and the TIME For Kids logo are registered trademarks of TIME Inc.
Used under license.

Teacher Created Materials

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ISBN 978-1-4333-3629-4
© 2012 Teacher Created Materials, Inc.

2 3
Where Are You?

Look around. The sky is big

and blue. The ground is dry and
bare. Hills of sand cross the land as
far as you can see. In the distance,
a string of camels walks slowly in
the rising sun. It is hot and getting Where are you?
hotter. You are in a desert, of course!

4 5
What Is a Desert?

A desert is an area of land with In a desert, there is less than

very little rain and, most of the time, 10 inches of rain each year. The
high temperatures during the day. ground is usually dry.
6 7
 condensation

condensation

evaporation
precipitation

surface runoff
snow melt

evaporation

evaporation

groundwater runoff

Evaporation happens when water

changes from a liquid and becomes
vapor in the air. One reason for evaporation
is the high temperatures. Desert
Whenever it rains in a desert, nights can be cold because during
the heat of the sun dries up most of the night the ground releases its
the water. This is called evaporation heat. But during the day, the
(ih-vap-uh-REY-shuhn). ground soaks up the heat.
8 9
 How hot is that? Most people
The temperature in the desert are comfortable at about 70˚F.
can reach as high as 130˚F! Deserts can get almost twice that hot!
10 11
Where Are They?
Most of the
deserts are in two
areas called the
Tropic of Cancer
and the Tropic of 8
11
Capricorn. Look at 1 9
10
the map to find the 1
4 7
Tropic of Cancer
tropics. The map
also shows where Equator
2
5
you can find the Tropic of Capricorn 6 12

world’s great deserts.

3

Deserts of the World

1 North American 7 Arabian
2 Atacama 8 Turkestan
3 Patagonian 9 Iranian
4 Sahara 10 Thar
5 Namib 11 Taklamakan-Gobi
6 Kalahari 12 Australian

12 13
 Desert heat sometimes makes
people think they see an oasis
that is not really there.
Here is a graph of Earth’s five
largest deserts. The Sahara
is larger than any other desert
on Earth, but that does not
mean the others are small.

The largest desert in the world

is the Sahara. It is in Africa. Most
of the Sahara gets no rain, but there Then an oasis (oh-EY-sis) is
are many underground rivers. Water formed. An oasis is a wet and green
sometimes rises to the land. area in the middle of a desert.
14 15
How Are They Formed?
Many deserts are formed
because of mountains. High
mountains keep moisture
(MOIS-cher) from getting
past them.
Rain and snow fall on the
mountains, but the air is dry by
the time it gets to the desert.

16 17
 Some deserts are formed
because the land is too far away
from bodies of water. The air soaks
up water from lakes and oceans.
Then it rains. But the rain cannot
make it all the way to the desert.

18 19
 You can try an erosion experiment.
Make a small hill out of sand. Pour
water from a pitcher down the side
of the hill. What happens? Erosion!

Water and wind cause desert

erosion (ih-ROH-zhuhn). Since the
Even though there is not much land is so dry, it wears away when
of it, water changes the shape of water or wind comes. That is what
deserts. So does wind. erosion means.
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 When the wind comes from one direction,
the dune is shaped like a moon. When the
wind comes from many directions, the dune
looks more like a star.

Strong desert winds blast and

change rocks. Wind also moves sand
and forms dunes (DOONZ). Dunes
are like little hills spread across the
desert.
22 23
 Can Anything Live There?

cactus flower

Joshua tree

The seeds of some desert plants

dung beetle
may wait a long time underground.
scorpion
Once there is rain, they grow and
Even though there is little bloom quickly. Other plants have
water, many deserts have plant and long, deep roots that reach far below
animal life. the ground for water.
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 roadrunner
kangaroo rat

yucca
bearded lizard

Animals in the desert have

found ways to live with little water.
coyote
Some sleep during the dry season.
Some are able to live without water
for a long time. Many sleep during Desert life is not for everyone.
the day and come out at night when The heat and lack of water make
it is cooler. Some even reuse the it difficult. But as these plants and
water that is already inside of them! animals show, it can be done!
26 27
 Glossary
desert—an area of land with very
little rain and usually high
temperatures
dunes—the hills of sand formed
by wind
erosion—the wearing away of land
caused by water, wind, or ice
evaporation—the changing of water
from liquid into vapor
moisture—a small amount of liquid,
usually water
oasis—an area of land in a desert
with water and growing plants
Sahara—the largest desert in
the world
vapor—the gas form of a liquid

28
 What’s dry and hot with
hills of sand as far as the
eye can see? Hop on your
camel and let’s
travel through
the world’s great
deserts!

Level 2.5
Word Count: 532
Reading Level Correlations:
Early Intervention Level 20
Guided Reading Level K
DRA Level 28
Lexile® 610L TCM 14629