Novelist Nancy Derey Riley
Smart Stories for Curious Kids - Where
Science, Imagination, and Kindness Meet.
I am a children's author and illustrator living in northern Colorado. I’m a retired wildlife biologist and I love incorporating my experiences with science and nature into my stories.
Curiosity’s Discovery is about the plucky robot rover up on Mars.
Butterfly Inn follows a school class that learns about butterflies and builds a butterfly garden at their school.
Yeti in the Serengeti is an adventure story about a young yeti who doesn’t like the cold of Nepal and embarks on a long, long journey to find a more suitable home.
My newest book, Who Ate My Cactus? Is a fun desert whodunnit about a rabbit trying to discover who ate the prickly pear cactus he was saving for breakfast.
New Book
Who Ate My Cactus?
Rabbit is happy to announce that we'll be at the Larimer County Farmer's Market, Fort Collins, Colorado, on Saturday, June 21st for storytime and book signings! Thanks for the invitation, Alison O'Conner, PhD, CSU Extension, and Renee Becher, Crowded Bookshelf, for handling book sales! If you can't make it and want to order my book, go to
here.
Rabbit has a problem. He saved his delicious prickly pear cactus for breakfast but he wakes up to find most of it eaten. Who ate it? Deer Mouse? Javelina? Gopher? Join Rabbit on his search for the cactus thief— and for his breakfast! Who Ate My Cactus? is perfect for young readers, parents, and teachers to share.
Fans of Jon Klassen's, I Want My Hat Back, and Ariel Bernstein's, Where Is My Balloon? should particularly enjoy this desert tale. This humorous whodunnit explores the ideas of sharing and how your own actions affect others.
The book is charmingly illustrated and includes fun facts about “The Meal,” “The Detective,” and “The Suspects.” From a STEM perspective Who Ate My Cactus? will spark discussions of ecosystems, food webs, wildlife habitat needs and carrying capacity.
Publication date: 05/13/2025
ISBN-Hardcover: 978-1-945049-55-2
Paperback: 978-1-945049-56-9
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Praise
Who Ate My Cactus?
“What a delightful mystery for a child! In Who Ate My Cactus?, Rabbit has a burning question. He asks every animal he knows if they ate his special prickly pear cactus that he was saving for his breakfast.
Illustrations for this beautiful book are accurate for the animals, settings, and responses as Rabbit travels all through the desert, looking for the answer. Children will easily understand the variety of animals and habitats they live in, the specific diets of desert creatures, and how they live in a desert.
“Lighthearted and intelligent, Who Ate My Cactus? is a great book for young readers. Questions and answers are respectful—there is no rudeness—and the ending is a satisfactory compromise. Colors used for the illustrations are perfect, and everything is well rendered, accurately reflecting the desert plants and animals.
I loved this book, and I was pleasantly surprised by the ending. I strongly recommend Who Ate My Cactus? and wish I’d had this book to read when I was first learning about wildlife as a child. Eleven out of ten!”
— Thetis Gamberg, retired biologist, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
“Who Ate My Cactus? is a well-written and charmingly illustrated picture book geared for younger children. Nancy Derey Riley does a great job making the story not only humorous but also factual.
Riley’s illustrations are beautifully done with an emphasis on accuracy to details. The back matter is filled with fun facts about each desert animal in the story.
I enjoyed — and recommend — it! Who Ate My Cactus? would be a good addition in early elementary school, especially for students learning about desert animals and what they eat.”
— Valerie Brown, Elementary director of Academic Instruction and third-grade teacher, Heritage Christian Academy
Guest author Visits
Come Have Nancy Chat With You
For classrooms, schools, libraries, daycares or homeschooling groups! I have a brief, warm introduction of myself to my audience and preview your book of choice and then I read the book out loud. Afterwards, I’ll answer questions about the story(ies) I read, how I come up with my ideas for books, how I get my thoughts down on paper, the process to get a book published and the joy I have in sharing my stories with you!
At the end we can make a craft (make a butterfly, fold a paper hat to go adventuring, make a paper cactus), do an activity together (a word search, scavenger hunt, or maze puzzle) or discuss what plants and flowers would help the butterflies.
