I never cease to be amazed by the vast collection of animals who make annual pilgrimages to find warmer climes or breeding grounds. As someone who needs a sat-nav to find her way almost anywhere, I am completely in awe the various strategies animals use to travel thousands of miles.

This blog post features a selection of books about some of those amazing migrations.

‘Follow flocks of arctic terns on their annual 40,000-kilometre journey between the Earth’s poles. Join the monarch butterflies on their famous pilgrimage from Canada to Mexico. Awe at wildebeest, humpback whales, salmon, dragonflies and more. Find out how they navigate themselves on their impressive journeys – chemicals, the sun and/or the Earth’s magnetic field.’

This is an absolute treasure of a book. As with the rest of this series, Matt Sewell’s signature watercolour illustrations are simply sublime and add real excitement to the pages. Each of the fascinating animals feature were specially selected by Matt for their epic migrations through some of the world’s toughest conditions. The text well written and packed full of information. I would suggest it suitable for readers and wildlife enthusiasts aged 10 and up!

‘Over the cold, mirrored waters of the Arctic, a tiny tern sets off on the world’s longest animal migration. On her way, she passes humpback whales, caribou, Canada geese, leatherback turtles and monarch butterflies, each on their own incredible journey south for winter. When the Arctic tern finally arrives, she must find a new home on the Antarctic shore . . . until it’s time to return to the northern skies once again.’

This is a beautiful book with soft, flowing illustrations to compliment the lyrical text. The cyclical nature of the story was very pleasing, starting with the tern moving south for the winter then north for the summer. Readers will enjoy learning about all the other creatures the Arctic tern encounters on her migration, each making a journey of their own.

‘Floating across the sky in her hot air balloon, Cassi watches a little swift dive and swoop through the still air. In the rising sun the world seems to be holding its breath. Then a small breeze stirs the leaves in the trees, and as the wind grows bolder, a whiff of danger sends small creatures running for cover. Across the ocean, the wind awakes with a fury, whipping the waves, cresting each one with wild, white horses. And further on, around the still eye of a hurricane, clouds are carved into a great spiral, howling with stormy power . . .

And throughout, the wind in all its guises is witnessed by Cassi’s little swift as it embarks on its mammoth migratory journey, finally coming to nest on the other side of the world.’

As with all of Baker-Smith’s books, the illustrations within this clever book are simply exquisite – packed with hidden details for readers to enjoy. As well as being quite spectacular to look at, this book also contains a lot of science within the poetry of its pages. Any readers lucky enough to open this book will be swept away on the wind, just like a spider on a thread of silk.

‘One day Little Bird leaves the safety of her nest and goes to explore the world. Her mama warns her to watch out for people, but what are they, exactly?

On her journey, Little Bird will see many people who are all very different. She sees cruelty and greed, but also love and kindness.’

This story isn’t strictly about migrations, rather a little bird making its first flight out of the nest to see the big wide world. On her flight she sees countryside and town, rubbish dumps and litter picks. It’s all very confusing. But when she finally returns home to her mama, she only remembers the kindness. A lovely story about the many different sides of humanity.

Hopefully you’ve found something new to enjoy here, or maybe some gift inspiration?

Library Girl.

*Many thanks to the publishers who sent me these titles to review*