Secrets of the Desert

Collins Big Cat supports every primary child on their reading journey from phonics to fluency. Top authors and illustrators have created fiction and non-fiction books that children love to read. Book banded for guided and independent reading, there are reading notes in the back, comprehensive teaching and assessment support and ebooks available.

Altan is living in the Gobi Desert with his family and his faithful camel when one day a dust cloud gathers … followed by motorcars carrying an explorer and his entourage all the way from America! We join Altan as he travels with the Americans across the Mongolian plains in search of something the explorer had heard tell of in ancient myth… dragon eggs! Will they survive the difficult journey and find what they were looking for? This exciting adventure story by Hawys Morgan is based on a real explorer from the 1920s – the American naturalist Roy Chapman Andrews.

Lime Plus/Band 11+ books provide challenging plots and vocabulary as well as opportunities to practise inference, prediction and reading stamina.

Pages 46 and 47 allow children to re-visit the content of the book, supporting comprehension skills, vocabulary development and recall.

Ideas for reading in the back of the book provide practical support and stimulating activities.