On the Move: Mass Migrations
Written by Scotti Cohn
Illustrated by Susan Detwiler
Most youngsters are fascinated by animals of all kinds, and that fascination is fed by wonderful books as children become proficient readers at the third grade reading level. On the Move: Mass Migrations should become a staple for students’ reading lists, although it certainly can be a read aloud book for younger children as well.
On the Move: Mass Migrations has sections discussing the migrations of spotted salamanders, sandhill cranes, horseshoe crabs, caribou, chimney swifts, Brazilian free-tail bats, monarch butterflies, polar bears, snakes, elephant seals, salmon, and gray whales. These represent animals from a wide variety of places on the North American continent. Some move in order to find food, some to find mates, some need to go from a cold climate to a warmer one, some to find an appropriate or safe place to give birth or lay their eggs. Some sections discuss more than one season’s migrations for an animal. The section on horseshoe crabs even tells about red knot birds and common green darner dragonflies which both have a relationship to the crabs and the crabs’ habitat, but have their own migration patterns as well. Every section (or spread) has a lush, detailed illustration to give youngsters a true picture of the animals in their natural habitat. Everything in this beautiful book will delight youngsters and whet their curiosity and start their interest flowing. It will surely lead to further questioning and learning.
Four pages in the back of the book add some information and have some learning activities, but the real gift with this book is the 42-page teaching activity guide which can be downloaded at http://www.sylvandellpublishing.com/documents/TeachingActivities/OnTheMove_TA.pdf contains everything from comprehension questions to writing prompts to a wide variety of activities such as word searches, a science journal, vocabulary activities, animal charts, and much more. This book will be a great addition to any classroom library.
Title: On the Move: Mass Migrations- Author: Scotti Cohn
- Illustrator: Susan Detwiler
- Publisher: Sylvan Dell Publishing
- Reviewer: Rosi Hollinbeck
- Paperback: 32 pages
- ISBN: 978-1-60718-6251
- Genre: Nature
