Newcomer Tatham offers a clearly written, well-researched chronicle of a penguin’s growth cycle from egg to young adult in this Stage 2 addition to the ever-reliable Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science series. The chronological narrative uses short but interesting sentences to describe the loving care of the penguin parents and the varied sounds the birds use to communicate. The attractive design includes large illustrations on every page, with text blocks often set on colored backgrounds integrated into the art. Davie’s (The Night Rainbow, 2000, etc.) illustrations show the penguins in motion (swimming, sliding, and waddling along in their peculiarly penguinesque way), as well as standing stoically against swirls of spatter-painted snow. An author’s note offers details about several kinds of penguins and penguin movement. Guiberson’s The Emperor Lays an Egg (p. 1549) covers similar frozen ground with more notable illustrations, but with a longer text that isn’t as accessible to young readers. (Picture book/nonfiction. 5-9)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-06-028594-X
Page Count: 40
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
Silly reads for new readers to dig into.
A turnip-loving duck and its friends defend their garden.
Alas, the duck, sheep, dog, and donkey immediately discover the eponymous pest in the garden when it (a groundhog?) eats a row of beans. The duck is frantic that turnips are next, but instead the pest eats the sheep’s favorite crop: corn. Peas occupy the next row, and the pest gobbles them up, too. Instead of despairing, however, the donkey cries, “Yippee! He ate ALL THE PEAS!” and catching the others’ puzzled looks, continues, “I don’t like peas.” After this humorous twist, the only uneaten row is sown with turnips, and the duck leaps to devour them before the pest can do so. In a satisfying, funny conclusion, the duck beams when the dog, sheep, and donkey resolve to plant a new garden and protect it with a fence, only to find out that it will exclude not just the groundhog, but the duck, too. A companion release, What Is Chasing Duck?, has the same brand of humor and boldly outlined figures rendered in a bright palette, but its storyline doesn’t come together as well since it’s unclear why the duck is scared and why the squirrel that was chasing it doesn’t recognize the others when they turn and chase him at book’s end.
Silly reads for new readers to dig into. (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: June 6, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-544-94165-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
There are 17 kinds of penguins in the Southern Hemisphere, and Gibbons (The Art Box, p. 1034, etc.) introduces them all in this appealing beginning science title. She describes their general life cycle, from the courtship and nest-building of the parents to the hatching of the young, their growth, and adulthood. The handsome illustrations in watercolor and ink are framed with icy blue and white borders. Awkward birds waddle on the glaciers, huddle against subzero temperatures, and glide in frigid waters; downy chicks peer from between their parents’ feet while lumpish fuzzy adolescent penguins wait for their parents to return with food. Gibbons also describes the threat to penguins from pollution, hunting, and tourists. A handsome, sensibly simple title on a popular creature. (Picture book/nonfiction. 5-7)
Pub Date: Sept. 15, 1998
ISBN: 0-8234-1388-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1998
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