Is This Panama?: A Migration Story
A young bird finds he is all alone and goes on a quest to find his kind. No, this isn’t P. D. Eastman’s Are You My Mother? (1960) but, rather, an ecologically sophisticated variation. The bird is a Wilson’s warbler that must make his first migration south; the refrain of this journey is, of course, Is this Panama? This is an unusually appealing book about nature’s cycles, not just because of its near-guaranteed happy ending but because of the lively, informative text, as young Sammy meets a succession of other creatures, from a caribou to the monarch butterflies to humpback whales, most of whom do make some sort of migration (and their paths are described at the end of the book). Kim’s illustrations, a mix of line drawings, painting, and cut paper, are full of movement, color, and texture, offering up wonderfully varied landscapes and scenes that suggest three dimensions. Together, the text and images help make sense of a few of nature’s curiosities. A truly educational journey. Grades 1-3. --Abby Nolan