A Penguin Year

by Susan Bonners

A comprehensive descripiton of the activities of the Adelie penguins during a typical year is enhanced by a well-researched text and watercolor paintings

Genres: Science, Nonfiction

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although Susan Bonners’ does present a very much informative but still generally simple enough for the intended audience (for children from about the age of eight or so onwards) introduction to Adėlie Penguins (and a year in their life, from when the penguins move from the ocean to their Antarctic islands to mate and lay their eggs to when the chicks are finally old enough to leave with their parents and return to the sea), the fact that A Penguin Year was published in 1981 does unfortunately and indeed very much importantly also mean that the threats and dangers to and for Adélie (and of course also other species of) penguins regarding and caused by global warming are not yet being prominently presented and featured (and yes, most of the climate and weather details shown by Susan Bonners in A Penguin Year almost exclusively mention that the Antarctic is both extremely cold and mostly permanently frozen, which though in the 21st century is obviously and of course no longer really the case).

And thus, while I have still and certainly found A Penguin Year for the most part pretty well spot on and as far as I can tell scientifically sound, and yes, with an engagingly and lively penned narrative (with author/illustrator Susan Bonners accompanying artwork being truly a visual treat, both imaginative and realistic at the same time, providing an aesthetically delightful mirror of and for Bonners’ own printed words), I do have to leave the above mentioned caveat of A Penguin Year having been published almost forty years ago, and that frustratingly, Susan Bonners has also and most annoyingly not included any source acknowledgments, that there is neither a bibliography nor any suggestions for further reading featured (which I for one do think is a major academic shortcoming and certainly does in my opinion rather lessen the the teaching and learning value of A Penguin Year).