Review by Booklist Review
Gr. 2-4. A prolific science writer offers another informative photo-essay, this time on baby Adelie penguins. Markle describes mating, nest building, egg laying, and incubation, emphasizing the shared participation of both parents, especially in caring for hatchlings. When the chicks are nearly two months old, the parents abandon them, leaving them to follow their instincts to search for food on their own in the ocean. Large, crisp, full-color photos appear on nearly every page, helping elucidate the clearly written, succinct text. Important vocabulary is italicized when it first appears and fully explained in the combined glossary-index. There are many excellent titles currently available about penguins, but this one gives an especially detailed picture of the infancy period. A good choice for beginning report writers as well as for browsers. --Kay Weisman
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-4-Adelie penguins build their rocky nest, lay eggs, and care for their growing youngsters in this simple introduction to the life cycle of this ever-appealing bird. Markle's full-color, close-up photographs follow the growth of the babies from hatching to adolescence and the work of their handsome parents in feeding them, guarding the nest against neighboring penguins, and fending off invading skuas. However, the author's views of the larger scene are inconsistent in quality; although some of them offer an informative sense of the terrain, others are blurry. The explanations of the penguin life cycle and behavior are clear but often detached and wooden in tone. Though more perfunctory than Markle's best work, the book is attractive and might serve as a complement to Sophie Webb's intriguing observations in My Season with Penguins (Houghton, 2000), illustrated with watercolor sketches. Markle's title includes a map of Antarctica but it is not labeled and there is no key or indication of where Ross Island, the home of these particular birds, might be. The book concludes with a view of the just-grown penguins jumping into the sea for their first swim in search of their own food. -Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
(Primary) Betty Tatham Penguin Chick; illus. by Helen K. Davie(Preschool, Primary)Both of these books capture the appeal of penguin chicks while carefully explaining the two-parent care system. In Penguin Chick, a Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science book, Tatham provides an impressive introduction to emperor penguin growth and development. The book is clear and accurate, presenting information in a manner that trusts the intelligence of children without taking away from their fascination with nature. Davie's illustrations capture the appealing shapes and movements of the penguins, and a helpful growth timeline at the end of the book allows readers to directly compare the stages in penguin development. Two appended experiments are remarkably well matched to the topic; one encourages readers to "walk like a penguin" by shuffling along with a potato on their feet. In her third Growing Up Wild title, Markle focuses on Adelie penguins with detail appropriate for a slightly older (or more science-focused) audience, including descriptions of nest building, egg tending, and care of chicks. The penguins are under constant threat from skua predators, an element of tension that is present throughout the book. Laudably, Markle does not spare readers from the harsh realities of penguin life-not all the chicks in this book survive. Color photographs dominate the layouts and are primarily focused on the penguins themselves, though a few pull back to give glimpses of the penguins' rocky and icy environment; some of the photos are a bit unfocused and somewhat grainy. Both books make important (and complementary) contributions to the growing collection of penguin books. From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The author of the popular "Outside and Inside" series sticks to outsides in this photo album for younger readers-but the verbal and visual messages are definitely at odds. In big, bright color portraits, Adelie penguins, their adorably fluffy, clumsy looking chicks, and gull-like skuas all pose photogenically on a rocky, crowded Antarctic strand. Things are not as cozy as they seem, however, as the bleak accompanying commentary reveals: parents defend their own chicks (but weakly) from marauding skuas, but not the neighboring young at all; should the loss of one parent force the other to go after food, "the chick usually dies," and chicks are abandoned wholesale anyway once molting season arrives. None of this is shown in the upbeat photographs, of course; the idea seems to be "no dead penguins." Markle also refers to behavior that is not illustrated-adults fishing or tricking the skuas-identifies two Adelie penguin nurseries but does not locate them on her map, and offers no links to further sources of information. Though the text is considerably franker than most, this is patchy, uninspired work, not up to Markle's usual excellent standard. (Nonfiction. 7-9)
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
