The Great Expedition Series, Book 16

A Million Whys: The Desert Expedition for Curious Kids

By Crafty Clover. Published by Million Whys Press.

What Counts as a Desert? How Do Plants Survive in Places Where It Almost Never Rains? Where Does an Oasis Get Its Water? This book answers 150 questions like these, one question per page, each with a short video answer. Six expeditions: Desert Worlds & Wind-Carved Land, Surviving Heat, Chill & Thirst, Plants That Beat the Dry, Animals of Sand & Scrub, Hidden Water & Rare Rain, and People, Science & Care of Dry Lands.

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All 150 questions

Tap a question to watch its video and read the answer.

Expedition 1: Desert Worlds & Wind-Carved Land

1. What Counts as a Desert?
2. Are All Deserts Hot and Sandy?
3. How Big Is the Sahara?
4. Why Was the Sahara Green Thousands of Years Ago?
5. Why Is the Atacama One of the Driest Places on Earth?
6. Why Is Antarctica Called a Desert Even Though It Is Covered in Ice?
7. Why Are Desert Sand Grains So Round and Frosted?
8. How Do Sand Dunes Form?
9. Why Do Dunes Have a Gentle Slope on One Side and a Steep Slope on the Other?
10. Why Do Dunes Slowly Move Across the Land?
11. Why Do Desert Rocks End Up in Strange Wind-Carved Shapes?
12. How Do Stone Arches Form in the Desert?
13. What Is Desert Pavement?
14. Why Are Some Desert Rocks Coated in a Dark, Shiny Skin?
15. How Can Salt Break a Rock?
16. Why Do Some Deserts Have Flat White Salt Plains?
17. Why Does Dry Mud Crack Into Puzzle Pieces?
18. Why Are Desert Rocks So Often Red, Orange, or Pink?
19. Why Do Fossils of Sea Creatures Turn Up in Some Deserts?
20. How Does Wood Turn Into Stone?
21. Why Do Giant Sandstorms Roll Across Deserts?
22. How Can Desert Dust Blow Across a Whole Ocean?
23. Why Are Deserts Good Places to Find Meteorites?
24. Why Does the Desert Sky Seem to Sparkle with Stars at Night?
25. How Do Scientists Use Deserts to Practice for Mars?

Expedition 2: Surviving Heat, Chill & Thirst

26. How Do Living Things Stay Cool in a Place with No Air Conditioning?
27. Why Is It So Much Cooler a Few Feet Underground in a Desert?
28. How Do Desert Hunters Find Food on a Dark Night?
29. Why Do Big Ears Help Some Desert Animals Cool Off?
30. Why Are So Many Desert Animals Pale or Sandy Colored?
31. Where Do Desert Animals Find Water If There Is No Pond?
32. How Can a Kangaroo Rat Live Without Ever Taking a Drink?
33. How Does a Beetle Collect Drinking Water From Fog?
34. Why Does Dry Air Make You Feel Thirsty So Fast?
35. Why Should You Sip Water Often on a Hot Day Instead of Waiting Until You Are Very Thirsty?
36. Why Is the Afternoon Often the Hottest Part of a Desert Day?
37. Why Is Sand Too Hot to Walk on at Midday?
38. How Do Animals Stay Warm on a Cold Desert Night?
39. Which Deserts Get Freezing Winters, and Why?
40. Why Does Snow Sometimes Fall in Deserts?
41. Why Do Lizards Switch Between Sun and Shade All Day?
42. Why Do Some Lizards Lift Their Feet One at a Time on Hot Sand?
43. Why Do Saharan Silver Ants Run on Such Long Legs?
44. How Do Birds Cool Off Without Sweating?
45. Why Does a Roadrunner Sunbathe in the Morning?
46. What Is Summer Sleep, and Which Animals Do It?
47. Why Do Some Desert Insects Have Waxy Skin?
48. Why Are There So Few Clouds Over Most Deserts?
49. What Happens to a Body That Is Too Hot, and How Can You Help?
50. Where Is the Hottest Place on Earth, and How Hot Does It Get?

Expedition 3: Plants That Beat the Dry

51. How Do Plants Survive in Places Where It Almost Never Rains?
52. Why Do Many Desert Plants Have Tiny Leaves or No Leaves at All?
53. Why Do Some Desert Shrubs Send Their Roots Down 50 Feet or More?
54. Why Do Some Desert Plants Spread Their Roots Wide but Shallow?
55. Why Do Desert Wildflowers Bloom All at Once After a Rare Rain?
56. How Can a Seed Wait for Years Until It Rains?
57. Why Does the Creosote Bush Smell Like Rain?
58. How Can a Ring of Bushes Be 11,000 Years Old?
59. How Does a Joshua Tree Depend on One Little Moth?
60. Why Do Some Desert Plants Have Fuzzy or Silvery Leaves?
61. Why Do Some Desert Plants Open Their Pores Only at Night?
62. Why Are Aloe Leaves So Thick and Gel-Filled?
63. Why Do Some Desert Plants Look Like Pebbles?
64. Why Does the Ocotillo Grow Leaves Only After It Rains?
65. How Can a Resurrection Plant Come Back to Life?
66. Why Does a Tumbleweed Roll Across the Land?
67. Why Do So Many Desert Plants Have Thorns or Spines?
68. What Is the Welwitschia, the Namib Plant That Lives for Centuries?
69. How Do Desert Plants Avoid Crowding Each Other?
70. Why Do Some Desert Leaves Stand on Edge Instead of Lying Flat?
71. Why Do Big Cacti Have Pleated Sides?
72. How Do Mesquite Trees Make Poor Desert Soil Richer?
73. How Do Animals Help Desert Seeds Spread?
74. Why Do Many Desert Plants Taste Bitter or Smell Strong?
75. What Useful Things Do People Get From Desert Plants?

Expedition 4: Animals of Sand & Scrub

76. How Does a Sidewinder Snake Travel Across Loose Sand?
77. Why Does the Thorny Devil Have Spiky Skin and Drink with Its Feet?
78. How Do Desert Tortoises Survive Years of Dry Weather?
79. Why Does the Gila Monster Store Fat in Its Tail?
80. How Do Spadefoot Toads Live in a Desert?
81. Why Do Fairy Shrimp Hatch From Dry Dust After a Rain?
82. How Does a Scorpion Find Its Way and Its Food in the Dark?
83. How Do Jackrabbits Escape Fast Hunters?
84. Why Do Desert Bighorn Sheep Climb Steep Cliffs?
85. Why Can a Horned Lizard Look Like a Flat Rock?
86. How Does the Tiny Elf Owl Find a Home in a Cactus?
87. Why Does the Sand Cat Have Furry Feet?
88. Why Do Honeypot Ants Have Balloon-Shaped Bellies?
89. How Do Sandgrouse Carry Water to Their Chicks?
90. How Does the Sandfish Lizard Swim Through Sand?
91. Why Do Jerboas Hop on Two Long Legs?
92. How Do Bats Help Desert Plants?
93. Why Does the Bilby Dig So Many Burrows?
94. How Do Desert Elephants Live Where It Hardly Ever Rains?
95. How Do Desert Animals Keep Sand Out of Their Eyes and Noses?
96. How Do Scientists Find Out Which Animals Visit a Desert at Night?
97. How Can You Read Animal Tracks in the Sand?
98. Why Do Desert Geckos Have Such Big Eyes?
99. Why Are Desert Tortoise Burrows Like Apartment Buildings?
100. Who Eats What in a Desert Food Chain?

Expedition 5: Hidden Water & Rare Rain

101. Where Does an Oasis Get Its Water?
102. Why Can Palm Trees Grow at an Oasis?
103. What Is a Wadi?
104. Why Can a Dry Riverbed Fill with Water on a Sunny Day?
105. How Does Water Hide Underground in a Desert?
106. What Is Fossil Water, and Why Is It So Old?
107. How Does a Spring Flow Out of Dry Ground?
108. Why Do Tiny Fish Live in Only One Desert Pool?
109. Why Do Tiny Pools in Desert Rocks Teem with Life?
110. Why Does Fog Roll Into Some Coastal Deserts?
111. How Do Fog Nets Catch Water?
112. Why Do Desert Rains Come in Short, Heavy Storms?
113. Why Does Rain Sometimes Disappear Before It Hits the Ground?
114. Why Doesn’t Desert Soil Soak Up Rain Well?
115. What Is a Monsoon Season in a Desert?
116. Why Can Desert Mornings Be Covered in Dew?
117. How Do Desert Animals Sense That Rain Is Coming?
118. Why Are Some Desert Lakes Saltier than the Ocean?
119. Why Do Some Desert Rivers Vanish Into the Sand?
120. How Can a River Cross a Desert Without Drying Up?
121. How Can a Lake Appear in the Desert After a Big Rain?
122. How Do Scientists Find Water That Is Hidden Underground?
123. Why Does Some Desert Water Taste Salty or Bitter?
124. How Do Rocks Slide Across a Dry Lakebed?
125. How Can Old Lake Shorelines Show Up on Desert Mountainsides?

Expedition 6: People, Science & Care of Dry Lands

126. How Can Covering Up Keep You Cooler in a Hot Desert?
127. Why Are Many Desert Houses Made of Thick Mud Brick?
128. How Do Tall Wind Towers Keep Desert Houses Cool?
129. Why Are Old Desert Towns Built with Narrow, Winding Streets?
130. What Is a Qanat, and How Does It Bring Water to a Village?
131. How Do Desert Farmers Grow Crops with So Little Water?
132. How Did Travelers Find Their Way Across the Desert Before Maps and GPS?
133. Why Are Deserts Such Good Places for Solar Panels?
134. How Do Mirror Fields in the Desert Turn Sunlight Into Electricity?
135. How Do Desert Cities Store Water for Dry Times?
136. How Can Salty Water Be Turned Into Fresh Water?
137. What Is Desertification?
138. What Helps Hold Sand Dunes in Place Near Farms and Roads?
139. What Is the Crust on Desert Soil, and Why Shouldn’t You Step on It?
140. Why Do Rangers Ask Hikers to Stay on the Trail?
141. Why Do Paleontologists Love Deserts and Badlands?
142. Why Do Dry Places Keep Old Things From Rotting?
143. What Jobs Involve Studying Deserts?
144. What Do Scientists Pack for a Day of Fieldwork in a Desert?
145. How Can You Stay Safe on a Desert Hike?
146. What Should You Do If You See a Snake or Scorpion Outdoors?
147. Why Do Some Desert Animals Need People’s Help to Survive?
148. How Can Kids Help Save Water at Home?
149. Why Can the Desert Feel So Quiet?
150. What Mysteries About Deserts Are Still Unsolved?