Geraghty (The Hunter, 1994, etc.) moves from the African bush to the Antarctic. Penguin Floe makes a long, arduous trek to her breeding grounds, where she finds her mate, Fin. There she lays her egg, which Fin guards while Floe goes off to fish. She returns with squid for newly hatched Solo's first meal, but when Fin takes his turn as provider, he is gone so long that Floe is forced to take the desperate measure of returning to the ocean alone. Left behind in the rookery, Solo is fought over by other penguins and almost attacked by a hungry seabird before he's rescued by Fin (who's wrapped in a fishing net) and reunited with Floe. Abrupt shifts in perspective dilute the impact, but the fact-based story is dramatic and engrossing without ever becoming threatening, and the landscape of ice and sky is strikingly rendered. (Picture book. 3-7)