The Journey

As a children's librarian, I have discovered fabulous storybooks. However, a greater thrill is finding the fabulous informational book for young readers! "The Journey: Stories of Migration" is an incredible blend of narrative and illustrations to present to the child a celebration of "the perfection of the natural world and the wonder of its many mysteries" (front bookflap). Awe-inspiring is an apt word to describe the migrations of locusts, baleen (gray) whales, eels, monarch butterflies, caribou, and the incredible terns. Grasshoppers in Africa become locusts when there is not enough food. They swarm by the billions and eat every scrap of plant life in their migration. They cause death and destruction everywhere they go. Do you know that baleen whales feed singly or in pairs in the cold waters of the North Pole? Then they seek each other out until large groups gather together to swim 6000 miles to California and Mexico to give birth and hang out in the warm waters until it is time to return to the Arctic again. Eels born around the seaweed of the Sargasso Sea look like clear leaves, which then float out to the Atlantic Ocean to the East Coast where the females will head into fresh water of American rivers and the males will hang out in the salty waters of the coastal regions. Then they all swim back to the Sargasso Sea to mate, produce, and die. And the life cycle repeats itself. One thing about monarchs: they lay eggs and feed only on milkweed, making their taste repulsive to birds. A true natural defense! The caribou, like whales, feed in the North singly or in pairs. When it is time to head south for the winter to the forests, caribou start showing up to join forces to keep wolves at bay. Do you know that one herd of caribou can be nearly 200 miles long! And the incredible terns! Do you know that terns fly from the North Pole to the South Pole, an incredible 25,000 miles with rare stops and almost constant flight for eight months! Then summer at the South Pole and make that awful, arduous return flight for another eight months! That nature is so mysterious is a given. I cannot help asking why some of these creatures must migrate and some not. Ah, but I did not create the heavens and the earth. But I can be awed over such dedication to a task in face of such odds as these animals. Cynthia Rylant and Lambert Davis teamed together to write and illustrate this book of science facts to create a wondrous story of six migratory journeys. An awesome book. A must for your library-- home, school, or public. (Note: I deducted one star because I thought Rylant's writing was a bit simple for grades 3-5. It was geared more toward first, second grades, but labeled 3-5 grades.)

In typical Rylant style - she has taken non-fiction material and made it really attractive to the 3rd through 5th graders - although it is still appropriate for a "read-to" session for younger kids as well. Illustrations are captivating. You don't even realize it's a science lesson until you're finished!

Beautiful pictures, beautiful text. Cynthia Rylant is lyrical in describing nature's organisms. These animal stories emphasize the diversity of nature and some of the curiosities of animal behavior that can really grab the imagination and encourage further questioning. By the way, the two previous reviews are inaccurate. Rylant does mention monarchs in Mexico and her timetable for the migration doesn't conflict with the presence of monarchs in Iowa in Sept. or in Texas in Oct. The book is accurate on these points.