Penguins: From Emperors to Macaronis

by Erin Pembrey Swan

Book Overview

Describes the general physical characteristics and behavior of penguins and takes an indepth look at fourteen different species. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0531166600
• ISBN13: 9780531166604
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Children's Press(CT)
• Length: 47 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.1" x 8.0" x 9.3"
• Age Range: 9 to 11 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 6

Customer Reviews

Informative and Fun!

This is a fine starter series for kids interested studying different animals. Penguins: From Emperors to Macaronis is our most recent read with the wonderful and interesting Animals in Order series. I have to say, my kids (and I) just can't get enough of these...they are such fun reading! What I like a great deal about this series (and it's held for more than 10 books now) is that it takes time at the beginning of the book to look at (briefly) what makes an animal (in this case a penguin or sphenisciforme) part of a particular species belong to a specific order, getting into what traits exactly (in this case) make an a bird a penguin. The book then goes into the "order" of living things which details the kingdom, phylum and class , order, family and species (with a handy visual chart for reference, great for younger kids, so they can SEE how it works rather than just read it or have it read to them). This is one of the better features of this series and this exact text appears in each book. Next the author goes specifically into where sphenisciformes fit into animal kingdom, breaking it down (in words and pictures again) to kingdom (animal), phylum (chordate), class (bird) and order (sphenisciforme). In this section we learn that there are approximately 30 different orders of birds - and that penguins make up ONE of orders (and that there are 17 species of sphenisciformes)! The book also talks a bit about where penguins fit into food chain and where they can be found in habitats including Antarctica and the Sub-Antarctic Islands; South America; South Australia & New Zealand; Africa; and also details some species that can be found in many places throughout the world. Penguins: From Emperors to Macaronis goes from there into an overview of fourteen species complete with full page, color photographs for each one, which really serve to bring the information to life. This section includes Family, Common Example, Genus and Species and Size for each penguin discussed and each animal is given one full page for written description and one full page COLOR photo...excellent for fully engaging the reader! Sphenisciformes included are Little Penguin, Galapagos Penguin, Emperor Penguin, Gentoo Penguin, King Penguin, Humboldt Penguin, and they Yellow-eyed Penguin. Overall, a fantastic way to introduce various types of Sphenisciformes to your curious young reader! What you get in Penguins: From Emperors to Macaronis is an excellent overview of penguins. There is a section at the end on how humans have impacted the habitat of these animals and some of the conservation measure that have been taken to help protect various species. As always with this series, I was pleased to find that at the end of the book the author/publisher also included a short recommended reading list and some really great web pages to do more research on...the kids in particular LOVED this! The books in this series would make a wonderful addition to a classroom library or as gift