# Cactus Queen: Minerva Hoyt Establishes Joshua Tree National Park

**Author:** Lori Alexander
**Grade range:** Grades 2–3
**Page count:** 44
**Genre:** Juvenile Nonfiction
**ISBN-13:** `9781662680229`
**ISBN-10:** `1662680228`
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/cactus-queen-minerva-hoyt-establishes-joshua-tree-national-park
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

A 2025 Bank Street College of Education Cook Prize Silver Medalist The Nature Generation's 2025 Green Earth Book Award Short List How did the Joshua Tree National Park in California come to be? Meet Minerva Hamilton Hoyt, an artist, activist, and environmentalist, whose determination saved the desert and helped to create the park, in this STEAM picture book. Long before she became known as the Cactus Queen, Minerva Hamilton Hoyt found solace in the unexpected beauty of the Mojave Desert in California. She loved the jackrabbits and coyotes, the prickly cacti, and especially the weird, spiky Joshua trees. However, in the 1920s, hardly anyone else felt the same way. The desert was being thoughtlessly destroyed by anyone and everyone. Minerva knew she needed to bring attention to the problem. 

## Where this book is assigned

### Great Lakes Great Books Award

- **recommended** · 2nd grade · Michigan — [source: Michigan Reading Association — Great Lakes Great Books Award 2026-27 nominee (official GLGBA nominee press release + nominees list, announced March 7, 2026 at the MRA Annual Conference; Michigan students vote through January 9, 2027) — 2-3 division](https://michiganreading.org/Great-Lakes-Great-Books)
- **recommended** · 3rd grade · Michigan — [source: Michigan Reading Association — Great Lakes Great Books Award 2026-27 nominee (official GLGBA nominee press release + nominees list, announced March 7, 2026 at the MRA Annual Conference; Michigan students vote through January 9, 2027) — 2-3 division](https://michiganreading.org/Great-Lakes-Great-Books)

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