African Penguins: book recommendations

Penguins are just so friggin' cute.

When I clued in that South Africa was not just home to lions, giraffes, hippos and zebras, but also to penguins, I knew what we were going to include on our itinerary.

Boulders Bay.  An hour outside Cape Town.  I did not stop grinning the entire time we were hanging out with the penguins.

I love reading penguin books with my students.  Because, as well as being friggin' cute, penguins are also friggin' cool.

The Emperor's Egg is an amazing book.  It's about Emperor penguins. But this year, I wanted to highlight a book about African penguins.

Pierre the Penguin: a True Story

author: Jean Marzollo

illustrator: Laura Regan

publisher: Sleeping Bear Press (2010)

non-fiction

ages 4 - 7

summary

When Pierre, an African penguin living at the California Academy of Sciences, begins to lose his feathers, the zoo staff is at a loss as to what to do. The lack of feathers causes Pierre to lose warmth, making him afraid to swim in the zoo pool. And the other penguins start to shy away, giving Pierre the "cold" shoulder. Unfortunately, heaters and medications fail to correct the situation. But one rainy day, inspiration strikes a biologist named Pam. While walking her dog in the rain, Pam notes that her pet wears a raincoat. Could a "raincoat," or wet suit, help Pierre? A tiny neoprene wet suit is designed especially for Pierre. But will it work?  (Sleeping Bear Press)

why I love this book

• it's a true story 

• it's a story of compassion and ingenuity solving a problem

• it's told in rhyme

• the author, Jean Marzollo is also the author of the award winning I Spy series

• the illustrator, Laura Regan (who was born in Canada) uses her art work to raise money for various wildlife organizations

• her realistic paintings complement the text and further engage the reader

resources

We have been enjoying the African Penguin Cam from the Vancouver Aquarium.  Their Vancouver "home" was inspired by Boulders Bay in South Africa.  Click on the image of the penguins strutting their stuff at the Vancouver Aquarium. 

Read about Pierre at National Geographic Kids.

 Check out this news clip about Pierre. 

Another true African Penguin story is  Peter, Pamela and Percy and the Big Spill. 

This tale is based on the true story of the ship the 'Treasure', which sank in June 2000 just north of Cape Town, and caused a huge oil slick (1300 tonnes of oil) that harmed thousands of sea birds. People came from far and near to help rescue the penguins in an enormous clean-up operation. About 43 000 penguins were rescued in total, of those about 20 000 were oiled. The clean penguins were shipped from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth by truck to swim back to Cape Town (with some luck, because no one knew for sure what they would do, but they were counting on their strong homing instinct) in order to buy time to clean the beaches and the sea. The whole of South Africa plotted the progress of the 3 rescued penguins, Peter, Pamela and Percy, who were equipped with tracking devices as they swam home to Cape Town.

I don't know why I did not buy this book when I saw it in Boulders Bay, South Africa.  I guess I was feeling broke!  I just should have stretched the budget!  

Luckily, there is an iPad version.  

I've just got to leave you with a picture from Boulders Bay.  I could have watched them for hours.