The Emperor's Egg - Softcover

Jenkins, Martin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0744582210 ISBN 13: 9780744582215

Publisher: Scholastic, 2001

Synopsis

The Emperor penguin is the only large animal to remain on the Antarctic mainland throughout its bitterly inhospitable winter. Once the female has laid her egg, she heads back to the sea, leaving the male to incubate it. This is his story.

About this title

Review:

Can you imagine spending a freezing cold Antarctic winter outside, with no food for miles around--maybe even a hundred miles? This is what the male emperor penguin does. After his mate has laid her egg, she takes off for the ocean where she swims about, getting plump on squid and fish, while Papa stands around keeping the egg warm for two entire months! Martin Jenkins's remarkable picture book about an extraordinary bird is sure to be an immediate favorite with children of all ages. In a compelling example of truth being stranger than fiction, he tells the story of the unusual habits of this largest of the penguin family (there are 17 kinds!). Jenkins's enthusiastic fascination for this polar phenomenon comes through loud and clear in his changeable font sizes and humorous personal asides ("So that means two whole months with an egg on your feet and no dinner! Or breakfast or lunch or snacks. I don't know about you but I'd be very, very miserable.") Jane Chapman's fantastic, realistic illustrations of the penguins will make readers chuckle, just as they would at the zoo upon seeing the real thing. Don't miss this book--it's wonderful! (Ages 4 to 9) --Emilie Coulter

About the Author:

Martin Jenkins is an environmental consultant. He has been involved as writer and/or adviser in the production of many technical books on conservation matters, as well as the Walker non-fiction titles Wings, Stings and Wriggly Things in the Bright Sparks series, Fly Traps! Plants that Bite Back, runner-up for the 1996 TES Junior Information Book Award, Chameleons Are Cool and Informania: Vampires.

About this edition

• Publisher: Scholastic
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0744582210
• ISBN 13: 9780744582215
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32