Adrift

In this imagining of a fox being swept out to sea in a storm astride a piece of driftwood, author/illustrator Bonnie Kelso explores the phenomenon known as “rafting,” in which animals float on something, like a log or seaweed, to travel across water. Some animals, like insects and small lizards, use rafts to find new homes. Even big animals, like foxes, can sometimes drift on logs after storms, letting the water carry them to new places. In this story, a fox encounters sea birds, whales, sunfish, and even a benevolent seal, who pushes it toward shore on a distant island. Though Kelso imagines a journey from the California coast near Santa Barbara to the Channel Islands, it is a story that could be told about “accidental” animal migration everywhere, from the Galapagos, to Hawaii, to Madagascar.