Migration – Book Review

Book Review
Migration: Incredible Animal Journeys
Written by Mike Unwin
Illustrated by Jenni Desmond
Publication date: August 6, 2019

Why we chose this book:
We (I) have been on a non-fiction kick lately, and T and I both enjoy animals. A cover featuring my favorite bird caught my eye, and when I saw that the book was a collection of individual stories, I expected a good fit. T likes non-fiction books that he can flip though to select a topic to learn about. Bloomsbury Children's Books provided a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Review
Migration is an introduction to the migratory habits of twenty different creatures, with each creature featured on a two-page spread. A few paragraphs explain the journey, while a few sentences in a different font give an explanation of what the animal is. Back matter includes a migration map with trivia and information about dangers to migrating animals.

What is so delightful about Migration is the feeling I get that I am witnessing the migration first hand. Narrated from the animals' locations, the journeys are made personal, as with the nervous elephant babies sticking close to their mothers, or when "the air [is] dancing with butterflies." Unwin crafts a story for each animal that also elucidates its migration, and Desmond's full-page illustrations captivate the eye. I'm assuming that one person will be reading while a littler person is looking at the pictures, but also taken as a whole, Migration is enchanting and amazing, from explanation to execution. Some animals were familiar, but others were new. I didn't know that great white sharks migrated in search of food, for example.

Two creatures that particularly delight in this household were part of the fun: hummingbirds and monarch butterflies. We have been talking about hummingbirds a lot lately. I plucked one from the sidewalk during the 1997 El Niño; my mom has been telling T about it, and T has been retelling his dad the same story. Monarch butterflies are also very much on our radar right now. T and I have been following the metamorphosis of the caterpillars and now butterflies that my cousin protected through the summer; now she is releasing them, and it has been exciting to see all the pictures! At first glance, Migration is a book that addresses exotic animals' journeys on a global scale. Reading, however, reveals that the exotic and global are sometimes much more local than one realized.