Fascinating Migration Story Plus Zebra Facts

Even though this is for kids, I found this zebra migration mystery story fascinating. It is about the seeming disappearance of a large herd of zebras who moved from their regular area seasonally, but no one was really sure where they went. The book goes back and forth between discussing the story of these zebras (and another herd) and sharing general zebra facts, like the language of what their ear position means. Often, the author tied the facts to something happening in the migration story. A scientist decided to put GPS trackers on some female zebras (as male zebras are more apt to destroy such devices!), and to make a long story short, this herd moved much farther than they thought possible or reasonable. The other herd discussed also had an interesting story. Trackers were put on them as well. Because of some fences (as the scientists found out), this herd actually hadn't made its migration in nearly 40 years. Zebras have a life expectancy of about 12 years. But when the pathway was made clear for them for their traditional migration, they did so on instinct alone—as none of the zebras would have had living memory of it—following the historical pathways.

I loved the narrator for this book. She spoke slowly and clearly but with interest, like the story and the facts fascinated her. I think it would be an ideal book for a child to listen to while following along in the physical book or eBook. There would be a few words that would be hard for an early reader to actually read on their own, but if they followed along with the slow-spoken story, they could certainly add words to their vocabulary. If your child has an interest in animals or true-life stories, she or he may find this book as fascinating as I did.

This is a great children's book, which introduces and then explains the mysteries of zebra migration. It also teaches the listener how scientists study the animals and a lot of other fun facts about zebras. My daughters and I really enjoyed listening to the audiobook while working in the garden, even as an adult I found it fascinating! The audiobook is only about 30 minutes long, and after hearing the story I'd like to read the book as well to see the pictures but it was a great way to learn something interesting while we worked. Thank you to NetGalley and Lerner Audiobooks for providing us with an advance copy of this lovely audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This was a clever book about a mysterious zebra migration. What was interesting to me was that it was such a mystery until recently. The book talks about how the scientist tagged and tracked the zebra herd and discovered their mysterious migration route.

I am 40 years old, and I was absolutely captivated by the mystery of this nonfiction children’s book offering, though I admit my mom always had me watch the nature channels and unsolved mysteries as a child, which might explain a lot.

The audiobook narration is good. The narrator has a clear and dynamic voice. This is very educational, and you learn not just about zebras but also about other animals that migrate and why. It has good vocabulary for young learners, but it’s also easy to understand the sentence structures and use context to help understand terms that might be unfamiliar.

Fun fact: Each zebra has a unique set of stripes that can be used to identify that zebra—kind of like humans all have unique fingerprints. I didn’t know that.