Ride the Wind: Airborne Journeys of Animals and Plants

by Seymour Simon, Elsa Warnick (Illustrator)

Provides a colorful guide to animal and plant migration for young readers through informative explanations of the patterns that various animals follow, their ability to know how to return home, and their skill in being able to complete their airbourne missions.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Picture Books, Birds

40 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1997

About the author

Seymour Simon, whom the NY Times called "the dean of [children's science:] writers," is the author of more than 250 highly acclaimed science books (many of which have been named Outstanding Science Trade Books for Children by the National Science Teachers Association).

Seymour Simon uses his website, SeymourSimon.com, to provide free downloads of a wealth of materials for educators, homeschoolers and parents to use with his books, including 4-page Teacher Guides for all 26 of his Collins/Smithsonian photo essay books. The site provides multiple resources for kids writing book reports or wanting to explore the online Science Dictionary, and also features the Seymour Science blog highlighting current science news. Educators and families are encouraged to sign up to receive the monthly newsletter from SeymourSimon.com to stay abreast of the latest materials that Seymour Simon is introducing to enrich the reading experience.

He taught science and creative writing in elementary and secondary schools and was chair of the science department at a junior high school in the New York City public school system before leaving to become a full-time writer. "I haven't really given up teaching," he says, "and I suppose I never will, not as long as I keep writing and talking to kids around the country and the world."

Seymour Simon is also a creator and the author of a series of 3D books and a series of Glow-in-the-Dark Books for Scholastic Book Clubs, a series of leveled SEEMORE READERS for Chronicle Books, and the EINSTEIN ANDERSON, SCIENCE DETECTIVE series of fiction books. His books encourage children to enjoy the world around them through learning and discovery, and by making science fun. He has introduced tens of millions of children to a staggering array of subjects; one prominent science education specialist described Simon's books as "extraordinary examples of expository prose."

Seymour Simon has been honored with many awards for his work, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science/Subaru Lifetime Achievement Award for his lasting contribution to children's science literature; the New York State Knickerbocker Award for Juvenile Literature; the Hope S. Dean Memorial Award from the Boston Public Library for his contribution to children's science literature; The Washington Post/Children's Book Guild Award for Non-fiction; the Jeremiah Ludington Award for his outstanding contribution to children's nonfiction; the Empire State Award for excellence in literature for young people; and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Forum on Children's Science Books.

In a recent interview Simon was asked if he ever thinks of retiring. "I seem to be working faster and harder than ever. I absolutely don't feel any urge to sit back and look at what I've done. The only things that I'm thinking about are things I'd like to do in the future. I'm planning and doing and continuing to write. It's what I love to do. I remember a story about an anthropologist going to talk to a tribe and he asked them what was their word for "work." Their response was they have no word for work. Everybody does the things that they do in their life. I love that response. I don't differentiate between work and play. Everything I do is something that I enjoy doing - the writing, the research and everything else."

Seymour Simon writes and photographs nature from his hilltop home in Columbia County in upstate New York, where he lives with his wife Liz Nealon.

You can follow Seymour on Facebook and on Twitter, as well as on his website, which offers free, downloadable Teacher Guides to his books for educators, parents and homeschoolers, as well as the popular Seymour Science Daily Blo

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

REVIEW OF THE ORIGINAL 1997 EDITION

Well first and foremost, Seymour Simon does with his 1997 Ride the Wind: Airborne Journeys of Animals and Plants offer up and present a plethora of, a for a picture book actually and in fact quite massively huge amount of factual information and details regarding how and why many animal species (insects, bats and of course birds) travel (and often migrate) through flight, via travelling through the air (and yes, while there indeed are updated editions hailing from 2012 and 2015, since Open Library only has the first, only has the original 1997 edition of Ride the Wind: Airborne Journeys of Animals and Plants available for borrowing, that is of course the edition I also ended up reading and reviewing). And furthermore, and of course very much as according to the book title itself, Seymour Simon’s presented and featured text for Ride the Wind: Airborne Journeys of Animals and Plants basically but with intense and meticulous detail also clearly and with much enlightenment demonstrates that many plant species such as for example dandelions and milkweed equally disperse their seeds through using air currents, through the wind and air (and of course with dandelions us often taking a dandelion and actively blowing on the dried seeds).

Intensely informative and while in my opinion not ever overwhelming with regard to too much scientific jargon being included and narrationally used by Seymour Simon, I rather do think that the sheer amount of facts upon facts (especially on bird and also on insect migration patterns) textually encountered in Ride the Wind: Airborne Journeys of Animals and Plants could perhaps render Simon’s presented narrative a bit verbally exhausting if either the intended audience, if children from about the ages of seven to ten or teachers/parents were to read everything in one long and drawn out session (and thus, I for one do tend to recommend reading/using Ride the Wind: Airborne Journeys of Animals and Plants for learning and instruction in small and as such more manageable chunks, and especially so, if reading Ride the Wind: Airborne Journeys of Animals and Plants aloud).

Now with regard to Elsa Warnick’s accompanying artwork, while I do think her illustrations work considerably better and look quite a bit more visually realistic and natural in Ride the Wind: Airborne Journeys of Animals and Plants than they do in They Swim the Seas: The Mystery of Animal Migration, personally, I still would much prefer photographs or at least a combination of drawn/painted pictures and photographs, not to mention that I simply cannot and will not give more than three stars to a completely non fiction science and biology based picture book which does not include, which completely fails to provide bibliographic materials (and while I was in fact no longer really expecting Seymour Simon to include a bibliography and suggestions for further reading in Ride the Wind: Airborne Journeys of Animals and Plants I am still annoyed and frustrated and will thus also lower my star rating accordingly).

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an exhaustive bit of reading. It was shock full of interesting facts. I liked it, though I have to confess that it left me swimming in a wide sea of information that I can't imagine remembering for very long afterward. I'd like to say that I recommend it to my students, but since all of them are ages 11 and under, I can't imagine them not being as overwhelmed as I was by the sheer volume of this text. This would be great to read if I were researching migratory animals. It's loaded with facts, but it can leave you feeling a bit bowled over by the end.

[Mrs. Ruigrok · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was FULL of information but it was not what I was expecting. I don't think you could read this to a child or a class in one sitting as there was so much information. The illustrations made me think I was picking up a story book rather than a nonfiction book. Perhaps I would have liked it more with real photos as opposed to illustrations. It has amazing information in it but it's not a quick read.

[Tina Hoggatt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Migrations by birds, bats, insects, and the dispersal of seeds are the subject of this gloriously illustrated picture book (Elsa Warnick). The fact that it was published in 1997 accounts for the lack of mention of population decline in all species, and perhaps the omission of airborne migrations that take place between Europe and Africa. This would be a great book for an upper-elementary or middle grade research project.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes I just don't like a book, I don't dislike it but this one doesn't really grab me. I like the illustrations though.

[Nicholas & Megan Clinch · Rating 2 out of 5]

More of a research text, less narrative drive. Not read-aloud friendly, which bummed us out.