ANIMAL JOURNEYS

A pint-sized compendium of facts about remarkable animal travels.

Sized just right for small hands and illustrated engagingly, this collection of informational tidbits is broadly organized into four sections: astonishing migrations; travels in, on, and near the water; animals whose journeys take place under extreme conditions; and interesting “animal antics.” The animals described come from around the world, beginning with the Arctic tern, a “super-commuter” (though the accompanying map of its travels is inaccurate), and going on to include whales and salmon, sea turtles and hippos, and three inhabitants of the Sahara desert whose specialized adaptations contribute to their survival, among the many others. At first, the author describes one animal per spread; later, several animals may be combined under a single topic, such as flying squirrels, flying snakes, flying fish, and Wallace’s flying frog—none of which actually fly. Not all the information is really about journeys: there are descriptions of honeybee dances, bat echolocation, two methods of camouflage, and two surprising defenses. The table of contents lists topics rather than animals, and there is no index. Courtney-Tickle’s illustrations vary from full double-page spreads to egg-shaped vignettes. They appear to be digitally created (with lots of spatter background) and show the animals in their probable environments. Page backgrounds blend nicely with the animal images, and vignettes are separately captioned.

An appealing invitation to elementary-age readers to marvel at animals who share their world.