A HOME BY THE SEA

paper 0-15-201802-6 This New England Aquarium book covers some of the scientists, conservationists, and concerned citizens working to protect the Hector’s dolphin, the yellow-eyed penguin, and the little blue penguin of coastal New Zealand, a “shining example” of conservation and the complex issues which must be balanced. The Hector’s dolphins were not reproducing at a rate to replace those caught and killed in commercial fishing nets, and the fishermen resisted any restrictions on their livelihood. Warning devices have been developed to protect dolphins from nets while permitting commercial fishing. Ecotourism—fees help fund the caring and preservation of species—has led to an increase in the population of the yellow-eyed penguin. The Eastern Bays Little Blue Penguin Foundation is an animal care center that offers temporary shelter to injured creatures, mostly little blue penguins, so small that they are “vulnerable to domestic animals such as dogs.” The insertion of full-page or full-spread informational asides, e.g., on the tagging of animals, interrupts the main body of text (except when they are set-off and colored, as are some journal entries on a little blue penguin), requiring readers to do a little page-flipping. Despite that, the text is conversational, and full of information and anecdotes to bring the issues home to readers. Striking, full-color photographs, most by Mallory and some from other sources, enhance every page. A brief conclusion ties the three scenarios together; the small snapshots of working scientists are a welcome inclusion. (map, glossary) (Nonfiction. 10-12)