Circle by Jeannie Baker (review)

“The bar-tailed godwits . . . in this story make the longest unbroken journey of any animal in the world.” And that’s the journey that Baker follows, focusing on a single bird, distinguished here by a white-patched wing, as he joins a flock and makes his way from shore of Australia to the wetlands along the China Sea, rests and eats for several days, and then continues to mating grounds in Alaska. Breeding is successful, but only one chick survives a fox’s raid. Hopefully that chick will grow and thrive, but by then its mother and the white-patched father will be long gone, having again fed heartily for the long, uninterrupted return flight. An author’s note, accompanied by a map, underscores the almost unimaginable lengths the godwit traverses without rest. Mixed-media collage, notably delicate and detailed, incorporate natural materials among finely textured cut paper and paint, and their photographic reproduction conveys a sense of depth. The slight framing story, featuring a boy in a wheelchair who observes the godwits and wishes he could fly with them, is poignant but it isn’t necessary—the drama of the bird’s arduous migration is fully engaging in its own right.