Penguin Journey

by Angela Burke Kunkel, Catherine Odell (Illustrator)

Overview

A lyrical picture book exploration of emperor penguins’ incredible journey to parenthood, with stunning watercolor art

Packed Snow / Moon glow
Wind-blown / All alone

This young picture book is about the incredible lengths to which emperor penguins go for their young ones. Angela Burke Kunkel’s lyrical text and Catherine Odell’s gorgeous illustrations detail the penguins' amazing journey, and an author's note and bibliography provide added context.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781419745898
Publisher:	ABRAMS
Publication date:	10/26/2021
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	1,142,185
Product dimensions:	9.60(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	3 - 6 Years

About the Author

Angela Burke Kunkel is a school librarian and the author of Digging for Words: José Alberto Gutiérrez and the Library He Built. After soaking up the sun in the Southwest for a number of years, Burke Kunkel now lives in Vermont with her husband, two children, two dogs, two guinea pigs, and one rapidly growing bearded dragon. She hopes to meet a penguin (or three!) up close one day. Visit her at angelakunkel.com. Catherine Odell’s childhood spanned the globe and helped her to develop an appreciation for the interconnectedness of life on planet Earth. She now lives in Portland, Oregon, working as a freelance illustrator. She is the author and illustrator of the picture book series Pepper and Frannie. When she is not drawing and painting in her garage studio, she can be found selling her artwork at local street fairs, skating a mountain road, or surfing in the cold waters of the Pacific Ocean. Visit her at canyoufeedthedog.com.

Editorial Reviews

★ 2021-06-29
Spare words and images illustrate the creation of a penguin family for readers of all ages.

With a dramatic moonlit image and just seven well-chosen words (“Packed snow. / Moon glow. / Windblown. // All alone”), the book pulls readers into the icy and isolated polar life of a lone emperor penguin. Luckily, other penguins soon pop out of the ocean and onto the ice to begin the annual mating process. “Swing, sway. / Call, play. // Beaks in air. / Now a pair.” Words and images celebrate the Antarctic setting, the perfectly adapted penguins (“Waves glitter. / Flippers flitter”; “Mamas stand, / edge of land. // Into sea, diving free”—complete with bubble trails for each dive), and the joint efforts of mother and father penguin to raise their chick. The critical transfer of the pair’s sole egg from the mother’s feet to the father’s is described with stunning simplicity: “Feet kiss. Near miss.” Perfect for group storytime and discussion, rhyming phrases with just one to four words dramatically summarize each step in the mating (no penguin sex depicted) and parenting process. The familiar black and white of emperor penguins contrast well with the scenes of rich winter blues of Antarctic ice, sea, and sky and, later, the warm pastels of the spring skies as time passes, the temperatures warm, and the penguin family unit basks in their success: “No matter the weather, / a family together.” (This book was reviewed digitally.)

An object lesson in less is more. (author's note) (Informational picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews