The Journey: Stories of Migration - Hardcover

Rylant, Cynthia

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0590307177 ISBN 13: 9780590307178

Publisher: The Blue Sky Press, 2006

Synopsis

Join Newbery Medalist Cynthia Rylant and illustrator Lambert Davis as they follow the majestic migrations of caribou, locusts, gray whales, terns, and more creatures who must travel to survive.

Newbery Medalist Cynthia Rylant joins naturalist painter Lambert Davis to create a vibrant picture book that follow the migratory journeys of some magnificent creatures: locusts, gray whales, American silver eels, monarch butterflies, caribou, and terns. Rylant's lively, poetic prose and Davis' exquisite, dramatic paintings offer an awe-inspiring look at the animal world and the outstanding tests of endurance and strength that the animals have undergone for centuries, and which continue to cycle on and inspire us today.

About this title

About the Author

CYNTHIA RYLANT is the acclaimed author of many beloved books for young people, including the Mr. Putter & Tabby series, the novel Missing May, which received the Newbery Medal, and the Little Whistle series. She lives on an island in Puget Sound, Washington. ARTHUR HOWARD is best known as the illustrator of Cynthia Rylant's Mr. Putter & Tabby series. He is also the illustrator of Kathi Appelt's Bubba and Beau series and has written and illustrated three picture books of his own: Hoodwinked; When I Was Five, an ABA's Pick of the Lists and a Crayola Kids Best Book; and Cosmo Zooms, an IRA-CBC Children's Choice. He lives in New York City.

Reviews

Grade 3-5–Rylants clear descriptions are matched with expansive, semi-realistic paintings of different animals and the terrain through which they travel. Locusts, monarch butterflies, gray whales, American silver eels, caribou, and Arctic terns are presented as ...miracles in motion. Rylant mentions the incomplete understanding of science about how animals navigate the extreme distances and habitat shifts in their complex journeys. There are no maps depicting routes or location. Often, they are stated in broad terms: the gray whales go from the Arctic Circle down the west coast to Mexico, and the monarchs go from the northern United States and Canada down to California or Mexico on the one coast or Florida on the other with no specific southern locations. The Sargasso Sea, where the eels begin life, the tundra of the caribou, or the unspecified African regions invaded by the locusts may be dim realities for some readers. No acknowledgment of scientific sources is offered. Most of the animal portraits are reasonable approximations (the enlarged, hard-edge locusts have a mechanical feel), and the realistic stories will be enjoyed by those who favor books about real animals. They will also serve well as read-aloud introductions to classroom units on migration.–Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Gr. 2-4. This large-format book begins with a brief introduction to animal migration before relating six tales of migration. These are not individual journeys, but narratives relating the migratory habits of six species: the desert locust, the blue whale, the American silver eel, the monarch butterfly, the caribou, and the Arctic tern. Each highly illustrated chapter follows a species through a round-trip cycle of its travels, describing how and why the trip is made as well as life along the journey. Well matched with Rylant's measured prose, Davis' paintings offer clearly delineated, well-composed views of the animals in different stages of growth and habitats. Throughout the book, Rylant conveys a strong sense of the difficulties faced by the animals and an appreciation of migration as "one of the wonderful mysteries on this earth." With large print and many clear illustrations, this book would be equally effective for independent reading or sharing with a school class. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: The Blue Sky Press
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0590307177
• ISBN 13: 9780590307178
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Davis Lambert
• Number of pages: 48