Book excerpt: On the hottest summer afternoons when desert creatures look for shade and stay close to the earth and keep their voices low I sit high on a cactus and fling my loud ringing trill out to the sun... So sings the Cactus Wren, one of the ten desert creatures that speaks for itself in the evocative and lyrical verses of Desert Voices. In both text and illustration, Desert Voices conveys a message of spirit and courage from the shy and quiet creatures of the beautiful desert land.