African penguins navigate dwindling nesting colonies despite South African conservation efforts. Young chicks face threats of overheating and insufficient food, prompting new methods like rescue and hand-feeding for conservation. The race is on for volunteers and scientists to save Africa's only penguins from a precarious future. ( )

The Great penguin Rescue: Saving the African Penguins written by Sandra Markle is all about the life of African Penguins! This picture book informs the reader about the lifecycle of penguins, how they hunt for food, and the "MV Treasure" oil spill disaster. This short book provides great information all about African Penguins and how they live.

Children will enjoy this book due to the imagery and wonder it visually creates, but the kids will also learn important facts about African Penguins and how oil spills can cause a catastrophe for them as a species. ( )

Independent Reading Level: Grade 4+

This book explores the plight of the African Penguin. It take you from the journey of a three moth old chick, to saving penguins who are in danger due to commercial fishing taking small fish that African penguins depend on to live. This book would be great to teach a science lesson on organisms and their environments. The first hand experiences that the author has is a great way to hook learners to the story. ( )

This informational text talks about African penguins, the various threats to their livelihood, and the ways people (including scientists, policymakers, and volunteers) are trying to help them survive.

This book immediately caught my attention because African penguins are among my favorite animals and the cover includes such a strikingly beautiful photograph of one. And it is indeed a book packed with relevant facts and wonderful full-color photographs featuring up-close moments with African penguins.

However, the prose was lacking something and the text came across as completely unengaging. In addition, there was occasionally material that was essential a sidebar but it would take up a full page or even a full page spread, thereby interrupting the flow on the main text.

Even with me being so interested in the subject matter, I found myself putting the book down a couple of times to "come back to this later" -- for a book that's under 50 pages -- because the writing style was so dull (despite the story of African penguins being quite fascinating). I'd imagine that young readers might also have a hard time getting into this book as well.

The book ends with extensive backmatter including a glossary, index, timeline, author's note, and more. ( )