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Author: Marianne Berkes Illustrator: Jennifer DiRubbio
Retail Price:Paperback • $8.95 | Hardback • $16.95 Teachers!—you’ll love this one, which is almost a whole unit on migration wrapped in a winning combination of easy verse, factual language, and beautiful illustrations. For animals, migration is a powerful compulsion, sometimes over long distances, often skipping meals. Sometimes, as in the case of the monarch butterfly, a round-trip takes several generations. Why do they do it? How do they succeed? The ten featured species offer a broad representation of migration: loggerhead turtles, monarch butterflies, manatees, ruby-throated hummingbirds, Pacific salmon, Canada geese, California gray whales, caribou, Arctic tern, and emperor penguin. The book is loaded with additional “tips” for teachers. Once again Marianne Berkes combines her teaching, writing, and theatrical skills to combine entertainment with education—creative non-fiction at its best. Educators: download free activities based on this book on our activities page. |
- 2010 Moonbeam Children’s Book Gold Award
- 2011 Mom’s Choice Gold Award
- 2010 Green Book Festival Honor Award
- 2010 Izaak Walton League Book of the Year Award
- 2012 Gelett Burgess Children’s Book Award
“A creative-nonfiction look at animal migration. Each spread focuses on one animal, describing both its journey and the reason behind it – the change of season, to give birth or to search for food and water. An additional paragraph rounds out the information presented in the rhyming verses . . . The animals include a good mix of fauna from land, sea and air, and many will be familiar to readers. A final spread combines the migration routes of all the animals on a map focused on North America. DiRubbio’s realistic artwork places each animal in its own environment, complete with the surrounding colors and flora. While highlighting the individual animal “speaking” in the verses, she also depicts whether the animal is usually a part of a herd or solitary. Extensive backmatter features more facts about migration, a paragraph of further information about each animal, some activity ideas from the author including another example of creative-nonfiction writing and a list of resources for learning more about the animals presented. A solid introductory look at animal migration in a form that the youngest readers will appreciate.”
— Kirkus Reviews (April 2010)
“Teachers especially will welcome this poetic look at animal migration patterns. Ten critters, ranging from Canada geese to caribou and loggerhead turtles, celebrate their “going home” with a rhyme, a small paragraph of information, and a colorful, realistic illustration spreading across facing pages. A large map helps readers follow migratory patterns, and a closing section contains a look at the “mystery” of migration, further data on the creatures in focus, and a handy-dandy passel of suggestions, such as to “Write Your Own Story” about an animal not included in this book. Similar in scope to Berkes’s Over in the Arctic (2008) and Over in the Jungle (2007, both Dawn), the book is a pleasant way to tie creative writing and natural history in a simple package.”
— School Library Journal (May 2010)
“A winning combination of verse, factual language, and beautiful illustrations that describe the mysterious migration patterns of animals from loggerhead turtles to monarch butterflies to ruby-throated hummingbird to caribou. Resources at the end of the book include websites to learn more about the featured animals, and several lesson and activity ideas for educators.”
— ForeWord Reviews – Teresa Scollon – (March/April 2010)
