Without You (2003)

Summary: The book is about a baby emperor penguin and the hardships they go through while they are an egg and after they are hatched while waiting for their mom.

Reaction: When I read this book, to me it felt more like a science book. I did enjoy the book but because of the science book feel it was lacking.

Extension #1: The class could talk about penguins and the ways that they could be like us.

Extension #2: I could read the book and ask the kids if thei parents ever did anything like the penguins in the book do.

I really liked this book. It is about a family of penguins, and the mother leaves the egg with the father and he takes care of it wile the mother is out to sea feeding. Then when the egg hatches the father takes care of the baby penguin. The story is told form the point of view of the father and the baby. They tell each other "What would I do without you".

I think this book hits home for me because I was raised by a single dad. Many children these days are raised by single parents. More and more of those parents being fathers.

Int he classroom I would use this book to talk about the many different kinds of family's that are in the world today. The class could draw a photo of their own family. ( )

I have to say, embarrasingly, that I teared up at this story, and its not a sad book. Since the birth of my son almost 4 years ago, I cry over anything sentimental. Every time I read the words "what would I do without you?" I felt the tears fighting for escape. Its not the full on boohooing that I do with EVERY reading of Shel Silverstiens "The Giving Tree" (come on, thats a tear jerker), but the tears threatened.The illustations are awesome, and the story line flows for children. It will probably be another favorite for my son. ( )

This story is about a baby penguin and the dependency it has on it's mother. While it waits it wonders what it would do without it's mom. When the mom is looking for food the baby stays with the dad but both await the return of the mother penguin.
http://www.sarahweeks.com This website gives you a place to go when looking for Readers Theaters activities. This would be fun for kids to interact. ( )

This is a very good book about a father peguin caring for the baby while the mama peguin is out feeding in the sea. In the beginning the book tells how the mother peguins give the egg to the father to keep warm while they feed in the sea. It tells from both views of the daddy and baby, how they are thankful for each other, and how they both are waiting on the mother to come back. It's a very cute daddy book.

I read this to my pre-k class and one little boy really enjoyed it because he has a single dad as an only parent. He told the class how his daddy takes care of him too.

As an extension, we talked about all the different families there are. We each drew a picture of our families, and displayed them in the classroom.