My Season with Penguins: An Antarctic Journal

A brilliant book to incorporate the scientific method into the classroom. This diary-style text gives the reader a day by day view of life in Antartica during a two-month 'summer' which is a balmy 30 degrees Fahrenheit. The author and illustrator, Sophie Webb, takes us on an adventure into the circle of life for Adelie penguins. There are detailed watercolor, gouache, and graphite drawings that bring the penguins and the scenery to life. There is also a handy glossary in the back.
This book would serve so many purposes in the classroom. For starters, there is the geography and social studies aspect. For example, the changes in latitude away from the equator result in twenty-four-hour sunlight, and why summer in the Antarctic is still 30 show more degrees Fahrenheit. As for social studies, she does a wonderful job summarizing how peace treaties have kept the Antartic a peaceful place in which no country has laid a claim.
As for the obvious scientific uses, besides the obvious education regarding Adelie penguins, the author discusses the lack of bacteria which causes dead creatures to mummify instead of decay - and she does not spare any details when she explains for that same reason, they have to bag all of their human waste and bring it back to civilization.
As if that weren't enough, the new vocabulary introduced is a bonus! For instance, I did not know that a gathering of Adelie penguins is called a 'rookery.'
The author's passion for these beautiful birds comes through in every diary entry. Sophie Webb does a great job drawing the reader in, satisfying their curiosity, and teaching the reader a few lessons along the way. show less

Ok, don't read picture books on an e-reader and expect to get the same experience as a paperbook. This book is *much* richer than the text. It's a little dry if one expects a narrative, but it's very lively and interesting from a scientific pov. I loved the illustrations, and the opportunity to learn what it's like to study penguins in the field.

For example, segregating a sub-colony behind a mesh corral, with only one gate - which is outfitted with a 'weigh bridge' - is a smart way to get lots of data but is only minimally disruptive.

Genre: Informational
Age Appropriateness: Intermediate and Middle
Media: Watercolors, Gouache, and Graphite
Review:
This book is perfect for an informational source because the author has displayed the research in the fashion of a research journal, and goes into great detail over what she observed, recorded, and discovered about penguins over her two months that she spent in the Antarctic. Pictures and diagrams of location, Antarctic animals, and materials use during research are well-organized and accurately sketched. One can learn about the habits, diet, life cycle, and variations of penguins found at the Antarctic during this scientists exploration.
Setting: The setting is crucial to the story, for if the scientists had not been in the show more Antarctic for their study of penguins, but rather in the Arctic, they wouldn't find any penguins, only polar bears, and their book would have to change completely. show less

This is a great informational text for the upper elementary-middle school classroom. Well written, easy to read text, with great pictures. Lots of helpful information in a unique, engaging format.

My Season with Penguins is a book about the author’s journey with penguins. This is a good book that gives interesting facts about penguins. It also tells the story of the author in diary form. It shows her journey and gives great details that happened along the way. This would be a great book for a teacher to use in her classroom to teach about penguins. It would also be a great book to use for an example of a journal or a diary.

This book is written in journal format about a woman who journeys to the Antarctic to study penguins.

Genre Critique- A good example of an Informational Work that uses facts and research based material to discuss the life cycle of Antarctic Penguins