Review by Maggie Wolfe
Reprinted from the Fall 2000 Southern AEOE Newsletter
In this book, Poco, “the curious scientist,” gets asked a difficult
question: “What good is a cactus?” He goes into the desert to search
for the answer and some beautiful insights emerge. Lovely illustrations enhance
the beauty of this thoughtful little book.
This is a wonderful book for helping children gain an awareness of ecological connections. I find this book to be a great springboard for reflective writing assignments reinforcing science lessons. When we are studying ecosystems and/or plants (the book works well with either), I take the students to a special place and read it aloud to them. After reading, I ask them to think about the different plants we have studied and challenge them to write a story, essay or poem (or even conduct an “interview” with the other members of the natural community) answering the question, “What good is a ________?” Replacing “Cactus” with another plant (or anything else in nature, for that matter). Then I send them off to find a “magic spot” to do their writing alone. Some wonderful stories showing understanding of the connections in nature have resulted from using this book as a writing prompt.
Some of the students attending the program I work for come from the desert, and it is good to help them appreciate their home ecosystem with this book, but it helps even when they’ve never seen a cactus – it’s the connections they make that count.
I place this book in the same category with other great environmental children's literature such as The Great Kapok Tree and The Lorax. Recommended for teachers, parents and environmental educators who wish to help children understand the importance, connectedness, and beauty of all life forms.
This book is out of print - find used copies at Alibris: What Good is a Cactus?