23rd May World Turtle Day

Around the world there are many animals close to extinction. One group particularly under threat are sea turtles. In Woody Bramble's Sea Turtles On the Edge readers learn how sea turtles  are threatened and what is being done to help them survive. The photo on the cover ensures thatches book is often on loan from the library. Turtles interest young children and there are plenty of books designed to keep them reading about them. See Pinterest

In the last year though, three books have been published about a 'famous' loggerhead turtle, Yoshi  who has made her home on the north western coast of Australia after a very long swim. Yoshi was released off the Cape Town coast in 2017 by Two Oceans Aquarium, an institution who had cared for her for twenty years since she was given to the aquarium in 1997 by a Japanese fishing boat captain because she was injured. 

With modern satellite tracking technology in collaboration with the government and donors, Two Oceans Aquarium was able to follow along with Yoshi to map her progress and understand the sights she saw along the way. In her swim was equivalent to nearly 1.5 million lengths of a 25m Olympic size swimming pool.

Kids News has an entry about Yoshi that gives students the information in a factual manner, but these three books give students the facts embedded in a narrative and with beautiful illustrations. 'Discover an amazing story celebrating teamwork, science, and an animal hero who swam more than 22,000 miles to her true home--the longest journey of any animal ever tracked. In addition to being awe-inspiring, Yoshi's story underlines the importance of wildlife conservation and the power of one animal to unite people around the world for a common cause.' This could be the blurb for all three!

• Yoshi and the Ocean by Lindsay Moore

• Yoshi's Big Swim  by Mary Warley Copp and Kaja Kajfez 

• Yoshi Sea Turtle Genius  by Lynne Cox and Richard Jones 

The library is well-equipped with 'true' animal stories. These are  a great way to show students what is happening in the world to save animals from harm.

13th May World Migratory Bird Day

This year the theme for World Migratory Bird Day is “Birds Connect Our World” and it was chosen to highlight the importance of conserving and restoring the ecological connectivity and integrity of ecosystems that support the natural movements of migratory birds and that are essential for their survival and well-being. What a great theme!

I have written about this day before, but wanted to write about it again because lately I have been reminded of so many beautiful books that do this topic so well.

Mike Unwin and Jenni Desmond's wonderful book Migration gives many examples of birds that do these great migrations, but it is the individual picture story books that heighten our awe and empathy for both the birds and the sheer vastness of the journeys.

Jeannie Baker's Circle  tells the migration story for the Bar-tailed Godwit which makes the longest unbroken migration of any bird, a total of 11000 kilometres, all the way from Alaska to New Zealand. The illustrations allow the reader to follow the journey very closely and to marvel at the ingenuity and tenacity of such a small bird. New Zealand authors have also written about this bird and a new book  Little Godwit Finds His Wings was published this year.

Two books that look at migrating cranes are Grandfather's Dream by Holly Keller and Lotus and Feather by Ji-Li Jiang. Holly Keller's book, set in Vietnam tells the story of Nam and her grandfather who is constantly harking back to the days when the cranes came to the delta as part of their migratory journey.  Jiang's story, set in China tells of a crane that fails to finish a migration because of a hunter's bullet. The discussions elicited by classroom readings of these two books. Lotus and Feather could be read along side Rechenka's Eggs by Patricia Polacca as there are similarities in that Rechenka is an injured goose who also needs to be nursed back to health.

Another two books for comparison are about hummingbirds. Look for Tiny Bird by Robert Burleigh and Wendell Minor and Hummingbird by Nicola Davies and Jane Ray. Both of these chart the long journey from Mexico to Canada that this tiny bird that is smaller than you thumb makes each Spring.    

In Is this Panama? by Jan Thornhill and  Soyeon Kim,  a young Wilson's warbler wakes up one day knowing this is the day to start a long journey from the Arctic Circle to Panama and because this bird is named, Sammy you cannot help but get involved in his plight. He is no longer, just any bird!

I noticed there is a new book coming called The Sea Swallow and the Humpback Whale by Catherine Barr and Gerry Turley which tracks two migratory journeys across sea and sky. I look forward to seeing this.

While each of these books tells an amazing story of persistence, resilience and sheer determination it is the illustrations in each that make them very special. The illustrations do much more than give a map or track a journey. They personalise, imbue wonder and allow the reader to marvel.