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The Emperor's Egg (Read and Wonder Series)

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The Emperor's Egg (Read and Wonder Series)

Paperback(Reprint)

$27.99

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Paperback(Reprint)
$27.99

View All Available Formats & Editions

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Overview

"Students who are wild about penguins and classrooms doing units on them will find THE EMPEROR'S EGG an action-packed read." - SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL

Can you imagine spending the winter outdoors in Antarctica without anything at all to eat? That’s just what the male Emperor penguin does. While his mate is off swimming in the ocean and catching loads of fish, he stands around in the freezing cold with an egg on his feet for two whole months, keeping it warm and waiting for it to hatch. This charming, oversize picture book is full of fabulous facts about nature’s most devoted dad.

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About the Author

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763622336
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	07/28/2003
Series:	Read and Wonder
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	14.75(w) x 16.25(h) x 0.25(d)
Lexile:	AD670L (what's this?)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Martin Jenkins hates cold weather and so has boundless admiration for Emperor penguin dads. While not a father himself—although an uncle and a godfather many times over—Martin Jenkins is a conservation biologist with The World Wildlife Fund and other environmental agencies.

Jane Chapman says she has wanted to paint pictures of penguins ever since her honeymoon when she visited a Scottish zoo and saw penguins waddling along on parade.

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Editorial Reviews

After Chapman (One Duck Stuck) lures readers with an irresistible cover image of a baby emperor penguin, the author documents the unusual role of the father in the birthing of this winning subject. Emperor penguins make their home in Antarctica, "the coldest, windiest place on Earth." During the region's chilliest season, a female penguin lays one egg and leaves her mate to incubate it; he rests the egg atop his feet, so that his feathery white belly keeps it toasty. "What's more, there's nothing for the father penguin to eat on land.... So that means two whole months with an egg on your feet and no dinner!" Chapman provides naturalistic acrylics of the frozen environment, against cold violet or warm orange backdrops. The blue-white ice and sky offset the charcoal feathers and buttercup-yellow breasts of the birds. Jenkins presents abundant penguin facts in the same conversational voice of Chameleons Are Cool but without the child narrator he used to such strong effect. Yet he achieves a similar tone, for instance, while speculating that the male penguin must be "very, very miserable" as it awaits the egg's hatching and the mother bird's return. Together with artwork that balances realistic details with the penguins' implicit charm, Jenkins's lively text will attract many readers to this tale of one of nature's unique parenting arrangements. Ages 5-8. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

"The lively text and naturalistic acrylics of the frozen environment will attract many readers to this tale of one of nature's unique parenting arrangements, the emperor penguin," PW said. Ages 5-8. (Sept.) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Gr 1-3-Emperor penguin paternity is presented in a positive light in this genial picture book. After a female lays an egg in late autumn, her mate does his utmost to keep his offspring warm while she goes off to spend the winter feeding in the sea. He does not feed himself for two months-well after his hatchling arrives. After the chick hatches, the mother returns and both parents take turns looking after it. It is a true labor of love at the bottom of the world. The anthropomorphizing and Jenkins's repeated asides ("I don't know about you but I'd be VERY, VERY miserable" or "YUK, you may think. YUM, thinks the chick, and gobbles it all down") undermine the book's value as nonfiction. Type sizes change with the mood of the action. Factoids, written in small, italicized script, are interspersed throughout but do not interfere with the narrative flow. The endearing acrylic illustrations are largely naturalistic. Blue and purple backgrounds throughout convey a cold, even Antarctic, feel. Gail Gibbons's Penguins! (Holiday, 1998) covers much of the same material. Students who are wild about penguins and classrooms doing units on them will find The Emperor's Egg an action-packed read and an appealing choice to clue readers in on just how hard Emperor dads work. However, it isn't nonfiction in the true sense of the word.-Anne Chapman Callaghan, Racine Public Library, WI Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

K-Gr 3
Martin Jenkins's book (Candlewick, 1999) relates the story of how, after the female penguin lays her egg and goes back to the sea, the male Emperor penguin is responsible for keeping it warm and safe for two months until it hatches. Shortly after the chick arrives, the female returns to feed and care for the baby. The lively text and Jane Chapman's wonderful illustrations will enthrall youngsters. The CD features three tracks: a competently and pleasantly narrated version with sound effects, a read-along version with page-turn signals, and a segment that includes more details about Emperor penguins. This nature story offers abundant penguin facts and can supplement a polar region unit, be paired with The March of the Penguins film as well as other recently released books about penguins, and be enjoyed in a listening center.-Stephanie Farnlacher, Trace Crossings Elementary School, Hoover, AL

School Library Journal

The lively text and Jane Chapman’s wonderful illustrations will enthrall youngsters
—School Library Journal

Among the most charming books of 1999 is an usually playful book on biology that you can read with a 2-year-old or use for your second-grader's science report.... quite a perfect children's book, not to mention the fact that it's hard to find good books that celebrate fathers.
—Nick Jr. Magazine

Budding ornithologists will enjoy this lively and informative book.
—Working Mother Magazine

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