The Great Penguin Rescue

June 1, 2017

Gr 4-7-Markle continues her series of books about efforts to save endangered species, this time focusing on the plight of penguin colonies along the coast of Namibia and South Africa. She deftly incorporates information about the penguins' life cycle into her examination of factors that led to a disastrous population drop from an estimated four million adults in the 1800s to about 50,000 in 2010. Humans removed guano from nesting sites, ate eggs, and overfished feeding areas. Also, warming oceans forced adults to swim farther for food. However, the greatest threat came in 2000, when a sinking ore carrier released a massive oil spill during breeding season. Markle documents how thousands of volunteers cleaned oil-coated birds and transported others to safety. She describes ongoing efforts of the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) to increase African penguin numbers by raising orphaned chicks, hatching abandoned eggs, and exploring possible sites for a new colony. She neither minimizes the major difficulties nor ignores SANCCOB's steady accomplishments. Numerous photos accompany the engaging text and may surprise readers accustomed to seeing penguins against snowy landscapes instead of sandy beaches. Clare Hibbert's Penguin Rescue uses some of the same stock photos to illustrate a less detailed presentation of SANCCOB's work. VERDICT Markle delivers another compelling story of wildlife conservation efforts that deserves a place in most collections.-Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State University Library, Mankato

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Starred review from June 15, 2017
Scientists use varied approaches to rescue and restore a dwindling penguin population in South Africa and Namibia.Penguins are birds Markle has studied and written about before, and they make an ideal subject for this companion to her accounts of conservation efforts for Brazil's golden lion tamarins and Russia's snow leopards. The stories are similar. The penguin species called African penguins nest on beaches and islands in the southwestern part of that continent. Once numbering in the millions, their population was greatly reduced due to human harvesting of the guano in which they dug their nests, the eggs they laid, and the fish they ate. Climate change and oil spills have also taken their tolls. From the opening focus on a hopeful, hungry, apparently abandoned chick to the final pages describing its rescue and return, readers will be enthralled by this relatively optimistic, though still evolving, story, which is enhanced by solid backmatter. The text is smoothly written. Clear, concise explanations show how human actions have led these birds to the edge of extinction and how humans now work to help: protecting nesting and fishing grounds, rescuing and relocating oiled birds, and even hatching, rearing, and returning chicks to the wild. The thoughtful design gives prominence to the irresistible photographs from many different photographers. Smoothly written and beautifully presented, another stellar animal conservation tale. (author's note, additional facts, timeline, source notes, glossary, find out more, index) (Nonfiction. 9-13)

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Starred review from August 1, 2017
Grades 4-6 *Starred Review* In this companion book to The Great Leopard Rescue (2016) and The Great Monkey Rescue (2015), Markle discusses the two-century decline of African penguins. First, the guano that sheltered their nests was taken for fertilizer. Next, their eggs were stolen and sold for food. Modern fishing practices decimated their food supplies and, more recently, climate change has shifted their feeding grounds farther out to sea. The book's dramatic focus is the extraordinary response to a catastrophic oil spill off the coast of South Africa in 2000, when an astonishing 45,000 volunteers helped rescue the penguins by cleaning oil from their feathers, from the ocean, and from the beaches where they live, as well as moving whole penguin colonies and caring for abandoned chicks. A dependable science writer for kids, Markle offers a lucid, well-organized text, telling a story that is engaging as well as informative. Drawn from many sources, well-chosen photos appear on every page of the book and illustrate the text very effectively. As few creatures are as photogenic as penguins or adorable as their chicks, the illustrations also heighten interest in the birds' plight. A vivid introduction to African penguins, their remarkable rescue, and their still precarious existence.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)