Cactus Hotel

Because we are always working in the community recreation hall (where the good wireless signal is) lots of the park residents have gotten to know us and what the heck we are doing on our computers all day. The other day, the woman from the fifth wheel across from us came over and said to me “I know you work in children’s books, but I wondered if you write them, too?” I asked her why – she used to be a teacher – and she told me that two of the other women in the park had shown her an old saguaro cactus, with multiple holes in it, that seemed to be serving as home for a variety of birds. “I think that would make a great kid’s book,” she explained.

I walked down to see it, and she was right – there must be about half a dozen holes in the cactus and birds were busy flying in and out of them. Kind of like an apartment building, I thought and then Ding! I remembered this book – Cactus Hotel – which I used to sell when I was working in a kid’s bookstore. I remembered it as a beautifully illustrated book.

Off I went to look it up on the Internet – sadly, it seems to be out of print, but I found it here at Powell’s and it sounds just like I remembered. We’re going to visit Powell’s this week while we’re in Portland for PLA, so maybe I’ll look it up and bring it back as a gift to the campground’s library.