Leaving Home

by Sneed B. Collard III, Joan Dunning (Illustrator)

We all “leave the nest” eventually, and animals do, too. Here we follow different creatures from all sorts of environments as they leave home and venture off to make their own place in the natural world. Some walk (jaguars), some crawl (crabs), some swim (sharks). Some leave as soon as they’re born (salamanders), and others leave after several years (elephants). Albatrosses fly across oceans while hedgehogs walk only a short distance away. And songbirds even come back.

Genres: Nonfiction, Animals

32 pages, Hardcover

First published March 25, 2002

About the author

Sneed B. Collard III (see also "Sneed B. Collard") is a biologist, world traveler, speaker, and author of almost one hundred books for young people, including the 2024 Orbis Pictus Award winner, Border Crossings (Charlesbridge Publishing). His other recent science titles include Fire Birds; Hopping Ahead of Climate Change; Little Killers; Waiting for a Warbler; Beaver & Otter Get Along . . . Sort of; and the upcoming picture book, Like No Other. Collard holds science degrees from the University of California at Berkeley and U.C. Santa Barbara. He lives in Montana.

Reviews

[Dominick Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sad book but at the same time meant to reassure kids. When young parents or siblings may leave home and this book talks about and with the ending it really can give hope to children.

[Dianne J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Age of readership: Ages 4-8

Genre: Picture Book

Diversity: Animal environments; air, land and sea, throughout the world

Illustrations: Watercolor drawings

My response to the book: This book is has simple text at the top of the page for toddlers and a more extensive text at the bottom of the page for K-2nd grade students. It explains how different animals grow and leave their nest to make a home of their own. The animals are found in Southeast Asia, North America, Central America, South America, the Pacific coast of Mexico, Africa, Costa Rica and Europe. The last two lines in the book, “We all leave home. A few of us … find our way back,” just reinforces the fact that sometimes our human children return home; just like the barn swallows.

Curricular/Programming connections: This book can be used for Pre-K story time on animals as well as K-2nd grade units on animal environments. The 2nd graders could plot the animal travels on a world map on a social studies unit as well.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This, like Teeth, is a simple poem with a massive informational text underlying it. You could choose to read the poem by itself with younger readers, but the informational text that lies beneath is the real bulk of the book. That would take an older reader's endurance. Good text, regardless of how you choose to take it in.

[Halie Korff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very educational book about animals and how different their lives are. It goes through their lives and talk about so many different aspects of them like living by them selves or in groups and all sorts of things like this. I think it would be a good book to have in the classroom of course. I gave it a four because there was no huge wow factor but it is a good book.

[Malissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sneed Collard is one of my favorite nonfiction authors. I love the way he text is organized- grouping animals that leave home in similar ways. The illustrations and text are a great pair. The text gives a lot of information- lots of chances to teach reading strategies.