Byrd Baylor (1924–2021)
If you can’t visit a desert, you can do the next best thing. You can read a book about one by Byrd Baylor. Baylor was born and raised in the American Southwest. She knew the plants, animals, and people that live there.
Baylor had great respect for the people of the area, especially for Native Americans. They have a strong connection to nature. In her book The Desert Is Theirs, she shows the respect the people of the area have for the flora (plants) and fauna (animals). She writes that the people “like the land they live on so they treat it well – the way you’d treat an old friend. They sing it songs. They never hurt it. And the land knows.”
