Status
Available
Collection
Publication
Millbrook Press ™ (2017), Edition: Illustrated, 48 pages
Description
"The African Penguin population is critically low, due to various factors including climate change. Scientists and volunteers with a South African organization are helping to rescue these endangered birds by rearing abandoned chicks."--
Local notes
Booklist Starred Reviews, 07/31/2017
*Starred Review* In this companion book to The Great Leopard Rescue (2016) and The Great Monkey Rescue (2015), Markle discusses the two-century decline of African penguins. First, the guano that sheltered their nests was taken for fertilizer. Next, their eggs were stolen and sold for food. Modern fishing practices decimated their food supplies and, more recently, climate change has shifted their feeding grounds farther out to sea. The book’s dramatic focus is the extraordinary response to a catastrophic oil spill off the coast of South Africa in 2000, when an astonishing 45,000 volunteers helped rescue the penguins by cleaning oil from their feathers, from the ocean, and from the beaches where they live, as well as moving whole penguin colonies and caring for abandoned chicks. A dependable science writer for kids, Markle offers a lucid, well-organized text, telling a story that is engaging as well as informative. Drawn from many sources, well-chosen photos appear on every page of the book and illustrate the text very effectively. As few creatures are as photogenic as penguins or adorable as their chicks, the illustrations also heighten interest in the birds’ plight. A vivid introduction to African penguins, their remarkable rescue, and their still precarious existence.
*Starred Review* In this companion book to The Great Leopard Rescue (2016) and The Great Monkey Rescue (2015), Markle discusses the two-century decline of African penguins. First, the guano that sheltered their nests was taken for fertilizer. Next, their eggs were stolen and sold for food. Modern fishing practices decimated their food supplies and, more recently, climate change has shifted their feeding grounds farther out to sea. The book’s dramatic focus is the extraordinary response to a catastrophic oil spill off the coast of South Africa in 2000, when an astonishing 45,000 volunteers helped rescue the penguins by cleaning oil from their feathers, from the ocean, and from the beaches where they live, as well as moving whole penguin colonies and caring for abandoned chicks. A dependable science writer for kids, Markle offers a lucid, well-organized text, telling a story that is engaging as well as informative. Drawn from many sources, well-chosen photos appear on every page of the book and illustrate the text very effectively. As few creatures are as photogenic as penguins or adorable as their chicks, the illustrations also heighten interest in the birds’ plight. A vivid introduction to African penguins, their remarkable rescue, and their still precarious existence.
Awards
Green Earth Book Award (Short List — Children's Nonfiction — 2018)