Review of "Desert Friends" by Linda Harkey, Illustrated by Mike Minick, Narrated by Jeremiah Acevedo

Paperback Score: 94/100 (9.4 out of 10)
Audiobook Score: 93/100 (9.3 out of 10)

Desert Friends is yet another fun-filled, adorable animal adventure by Linda Harkey! This children's book joins a plethora of Harkey's award-winning animal adventure stories including The Great Animal Escape and The Remarkable Story of Willie the Crow!

As the title of the book implies, Desert Friends is a book about friendship and forming connections with others, especially those with whom we share some differences and dissimilarities. This is a theme that was heavily explored in The Great Animal Escape and The Remarkable Story of Willie the Crow.

You don't have to look the same, you don't have to be the same, you don't have to think the same, you don't have to talk the same, and you don't even have to like the same foods, but you can still find common ground with other people—other creatures. There's always something that unites us, whether it's a desire to survive, a desire for shelter or sustenance, or perhaps a simple desire for companionship and company.

In The Remarkable Story of Willie the Crow, we saw dogs and birds put aside their differences to save one of their friends from drowning in a pool. Likewise, in Desert Friends, dogs and birds put aside their differences to save... wait a minute, is this practically the same story?

Anyway, despite a lot of similarities to the author's other works, it still stands out as unique in its own way. There's just something about it...

Set in the Arizona Sonoran Desert, this delightful tale follows the adventures of four unlikely friends: Rodney the roadrunner, Quincy the Gambel’s quail, Gator the hunting dog, and his three-legged companion, Tripod. Rodney and Quincy enjoy playful games in the arroyos until one day they encounter Gator and Tripod. The four strike up a friendly rapport, but their bonding is interrupted by a sudden desert thunderstorm that floods the arroyo. Tripod is swept away by the floodwaters, triggering a fast-paced rescue mission by his friends. Ultimately, the group shows teamwork and bravery, culminating in Tripod’s rescue by Gator and a gentle encounter with the dogs’ human/hunter, “the Great One.”

What's really noteworthy is how many of these characters didn't exactly get along to kick things off. Rodney and Quincy first speculated about how different they were and how strange they were to one another. For example, Quincy couldn’t understand why Rodney exposed his black feathers to the sun, while Rodney was surprised to learn that Quincy stayed warm by cuddling with a covey. Their playful banter even touched on toilet habits and diet—Rodney offered Quincy part of a tarantula (and, earlier, a lizard), only for Quincy to recoil in horror, proudly declaring himself a vegetarian. Despite these differences and misunderstandings, they slowly found common ground, showing that friendship doesn’t require similarity—it just needs a bit of curiosity, kindness, and shared adventure.

Similarly, the birds and the dogs, Gator and Tripod, don't immediately trust each other, and the birds actually have some incentive to fear them (being hunting dogs). Rodney, in particular, is wary of Gator and Tripod, fearing they might be a threat—especially when he sees them “pointing” in his direction. Quincy has to reassure him that Gator once helped his covey escape a hunter, revealing that not all dogs are dangerous. Even then, there’s tension as the dogs explain their beeping collars and mention their human, the “Great One.” It’s only after they all face the flood together—and the dogs risk their safety to save Tripod—that a real bond of trust is formed, proving that courage and teamwork can overcome even the strongest initial doubts.

Speaking of Tripod, he was a nice little addition to this book. We didn't expect to see a three-legged dog be represented in this book and we had to rub our eyes the first time we saw him with only three legs. Tripod instantly wins your sympathy, which is great for the last act of the book.

While we're talking about character designs, we also wanted to add that it's really cool to have a roadrunner and a quail character. Both are such funny and funny-looking birds when you really stop to think of it. They also have a reputation for being cartoonish goofballs, along with the woodpecker, likely due to how they're portrayed in media like Looney Tunes or Doug.

The artwork is arguably the best we've seen from the works of Mike Minick! The characters look more refined than they do in the other aforementioned children's books. They may not be as colorful (the color scheme in this book is a mix of beige, brown, white, and sparsely green), but it sorta fits with the whole Arizona-desert-theme.

Not every location needs to be a tropical paradise or a winter wonderland. As Zachary Simpson pointed out in Arizona Way Out West and Wacky, even a dryer, more desert environment like Arizona can be beautiful and special in its own way. Arizona has its own unique ecosystem and wildlife to accompany its unique climate and terrain. That's something that Minick really puts across in the backgrounds of this book. They're full of cactuses, dirt, sand, and gravel.

Minick also does a good job at portraying the expressions on the faces of the animals, particularly Rodney, who always looks like he's just secretly passed gas or has just told a joke and is waiting for a response. It really adds to the comical humor of this book, something that we saw a lot of in The Great Animal Escape.

Now, let's talk about the audiobook!
Right off the bat, our hats go off to the young narrator, Jeremiah Acevedo, who was only nine-years-old when he recorded this project! WOW!

He really does his best to bring uniqueness to all of the characters (which we'll get to). And he's a young man with a ton of talent and potential that is only going to get better and better with time and experience.

Anything remotely negative or critical we say isn't directed at Jeremiah—he deserves all the positive reinforcement and credit he can get for the tremendous effort he clearly put into this—rather, it's provided as construtive criticism for how the studio or producer may have helped his performance and the overall presentationof the audiobook.

First and foremost, it doesn't sound like Jeremiah's voice (his AMAZING VOICE) projected as clearly or as well as the other audiobook readers like Heidi Immler, May Webster, Immy Dymott, and Stewart Joiner Davis. It often sounds muddled, soft, or far away. It also sounds... echoey. And that really made us think that perhaps he was seated or standing too far away from the mic when he recorded. Or perhaps he's a bit shy and/or is used to strictly using his indoor voice (good kid, we like that!). Or perhaps the acoustics in the room/studio itself weren't optimized on that particular day or at that particular time (of the recording). It may have helped to have Jeremiah record a few practice runs, then coach him up and adjust the sound and acoustics accordingly.

The kid clearly has talent and was clearly trying, but due the acoustics, the sound just doesn't sound sharp, crisp, or loud enough. The jump in sound quality from the narration to the Story Monsters Theme (at the end) is the biggest indication of that.

Aside from that, there were no glaring errors. There were, however, some notable pauses likely caused by some of the more challenging passages that Harkey likes to throw into her work (The Remarkable Story of Willie the Crow was notorious for tricky-to-read passages, something we gave Heidi Immler a lot of credit for dealing with). There's a pause between "I can outrun... ants and spiders." There's another pause between "wiggling all... eight of its furry beige legs."

With all that said, Jeremiah does some dynamic things in this book including giving each of the characters unique voices. Quincy's voice is deep yet cute. Gator and Tripod sound like they're from a different part of town. Jeremiah even voices Rodney when the silly roadrunner is trying to eat a lizard (which later escapes), seemingly clenching his teeth while reading these lines. It's clever! And he even tries to give The Great One/Hunter a southern accent.

All in all, putting this all together is a monumental effort that should be commended.

Furthermore, this book and audiobook teach some excellent lessons about friendship, not jumping to conclusions about people who are different, and the importance of teamwork.

Check it out on Amazon!