The Emperor's Egg - Softcover

Can you imagine spending a freezing cold Antarctic winter outside, with no food for miles around--maybe even a hundred miles? This is what the male emperor penguin does. After his mate has laid her egg, she takes off for the ocean where she swims about, getting plump on squid and fish, while Papa stands around keeping the egg warm for two entire months! Martin Jenkins's remarkable picture book about an extraordinary bird is sure to be an immediate favorite with children of all ages. In a compelling example of truth being stranger than fiction, he tells the story of the unusual habits of this largest of the penguin family (there are 17 kinds!). Jenkins's enthusiastic fascination for this polar phenomenon comes through loud and clear in his changeable font sizes and humorous personal asides ("So that means two whole months with an egg on your feet and no dinner! Or breakfast or lunch or snacks. I don't know about you but I'd be very, very miserable.") Jane Chapman's fantastic, realistic illustrations of the penguins will make readers chuckle, just as they would at the zoo upon seeing the real thing. Don't miss this book--it's wonderful! (Ages 4 to 9) --Emilie Coulter

Martin Jenkins is an environmental consultant. He has been involved as writer and/or adviser in the production of many technical books on conservation matters, as well as the Walker non-fiction titles Wings, Stings and Wriggly Things in the Bright Sparks series, Fly Traps! Plants that Bite Back, runner-up for the 1996 TES Junior Information Book Award, Chameleons Are Cool and Informania: Vampires. Jane Chapman, who does all her painting in the kitchen and has a 70-year-old tortoise (which is now a family heirloom!), is also the illustrator of the non-fiction bestseller Tigress.