Animals in Motion: How Animals Swim, Jump, Slither and Glide

Barbara Robertson is the author of Wilfrid Laurier: The Great
Conciliator and the co-author of The Well-Filled Cupboard.

Pamela Hickman has written another excellent book, making the natural
world both accessible and fascinating to young children and at the same
time gently inculcating the basic principles of the scientific method,
with special emphasis on observations. The illustrations by Pat Stephens
are both beautiful and lucid.

Hickman’s subject is how animals move, and she ranges through a great
variety, from albatrosses to walruses. Her well-written and perceptive
observations include the following: “If you were a hummingbird … you
would have huge chest muscles to power your wings.” The word
“huge” in relation to the tiny hummingbird is not only arresting but
also apposite, for the rufous hummingbird travels 5000 miles every year;
“huge chest muscles” are essential.

Small and feasible experiments illustrate the author’s descriptions
of how animals move. For example, a test for the surface tension of
water accompanies her account of how water striders glide across ponds.
The slithering snakes experiment makes it abundantly clear how the
possession of a great many vertebrae helps an animal to slither. 

Animals in Motion is recommended for children aged 7 and up. Younger
children, with a little help from their parents, would probably enjoy
the book as well. Highly recommended.