Dennis Jay Belt, age l0, Muncie, Ind., for his question:

How did the Painted Desert get its name?

When summer vacation comes hundreds of families visit the famous Painted Desert in Arizona. This beautiful place was named long ago by the Spanish, and when you see it you will agree that no one could find a better name for it. There are 200 miles of desert wasteland with flat topped mesas and steep sided gorges  and all of it looks like a painting in rainbow colors.

Its rocks are sandwiches of violet and yellow, blue and rosy red, of pearl gray and green brown. There are layers upon layers of all the tints and tones you can imagine. And the living painting changes. A passing cloud softens the colors in a canyon with shadows, and at dawn and sunset the Painted Desert steals extra colors from the sky.