Don’t get stuck by the lady known as the Cactus Queen! In Lori Alexander and Jenn Ely’s book Cactus Queen: Minerva Hoyt Establishes Joshua Tree National Park we learn of a woman who loved the desert, its nature and who found a way to make it available for everyone by saving it.
I read this via an online reader copy, so I am assuming it will be a picture book size, but I really think everyone should read regardless of age or if the picture book is “too young looking.” It might feel simple on the surface with the conservation and the historical aspects (been there/done that), but the adult me reading was fascinated with what was happening around the character. I was picking up deeper things.
One of the things I find most interesting about this story is not that it was a woman who did the things she did, or that a National park was made, but how much was happening in a short amount of time. And yet, it was also at the same time over a great span of time. Most of her life, Hoyt was a socialite and after her husband’s passing, she would take on this huge project. Which might seem out of character for a socialite, but then again, who had the time and money for such an undertaking? The other part was that Hoyt saw some of the irony of her taking the desert out of the desert to display and exhibit it, but she knew it was for the greater good. ‘
And another thing I liked was the fact that Joshua Tree National Park almost wasn’t not just because of the politics of the time but the lack of understanding about nature. You do not send a plumber to look at what is wrong with your car. But basically that is what the government did. They sent someone who had no knowledge of or understanding of the desert climate, nature or the value it had, or how to save it. Overall, there is just a lot being introduced and a lot to see, feel and learn.
I would have liked to seen a “bigger picture” of what was historically happening, and maybe a bit more of a timeline within the content itself, but the extras do a good job there. And while this book was not my OMG BEST BOOK EVER! I know it is in the top 25 and I want to know more.