Super Swifts: Small Birds with Amazing Powers

An evocative nonfiction narrative follows the swifts on their epic journey north, from the jungles of Africa to nesting sites in Europe.

A swift may not look like anything special—it’s just a plain brown bird, small enough to nestle in the palm of your hand—but these superheroes of the avian world can fly incredible distances amazingly quickly, reaching speeds of up to seventy miles per hour and spending ten months of every year in the air. Follow one female swift from the steamy forests of tropical central Africa to northern Europe as she navigates arid desert and restless ocean, dodging predators along the way. Eating, drinking, and sleeping on the wind, she won’t rest until she’s reached her nesting site. Woven through with fascinating facts amplified in an author’s note and index, Super Swifts fuses gorgeous collage illustrations and a lilting text to evoke the grandeur of a voyage like no other—and introduce a singular bird with amazing powers.

Justin Anderson is a zoologist and filmmaker and the author of Snow Leopard: Ghost of the Mountains, illustrated by Patrick Benson. He has eighteen years of documentary experience working for the BBC and directed the “Mountains” episode for the BAFTA and Emmy Award–winning Planet Earth II series. Justin Anderson lives in England.


Clover Robin is a collage artist and the illustrator of several books for young readers, including Firsts and Lasts: The Changing Seasons by Leda Schubert. Clover Robin lives in England.