Peregrine's Journey: A Story of Migration Book

Many youngsters are just as fascinated as I am with the process of migration, especially journeys that span great distances. In this engagingly-written book readers meet the peregrine falcon whose journey from the tip of Alaska to Argentina--an impressive 8,000 miles--takes two months. Each double-page spread highlights one of the fourteen milestones on her trip, allowing readers to learn about her preferred habitat, food, pace, and the dangers that she herself faces before reaching her home. And then in a few months she will head back north. The text and illustrations show the bird's visual perspective on the landscape below her as well as the many different types of ecosystems through which she travels. Readers will feel as though they are flying right alongside her. I confess that I found her to have a sort of rakish charm and detected a gleam of awareness in some of the images. An afterword provides additional information about the peregrine falcon, including the effects of DDT on the species' eggs and being listed on the endangered species list for a time. This is an excellent introduction to a fascinating bird.