Antarctic Antics: The perfect book for your little chicks

I’ve been blessed with a really cool step-mother-in-law. Penguinman’s mother died before I had a chance to meet her, which is a source of sadness for both of us, but his step-mother is a really neat lady, with a great sense of humor and lots of interests. She also volunteers at the library in her town, which keeps her on the cutting edge of new books.

One day last year, I received an unexpected parcel from her. Inside was a children’s book that she had seen at the library and immediately rushed out to buy for me. That book was Antarctic Antics: A Book of Penguin Poems by Judy Sierra, with illustrations by Jose Aruego and Ariane Dewey.

According to the inside flap, ... Judy Sierra imagines life in the Antarctic through the eyes of the chicks in an Emperor penguin colony. Nurtured by attentive fathers and mothers and surrounded by hundreds of fluffy relatives, these feathered playmates slip and slide through their icy world, recounting how they learn to dive, swim, and glide on their bellies.


THE TEXT

The poems begin as the chick is hatching:

I’m almost hatched!...
I’m pecking hard...
My head’s outside...
I’m really hatched... Hey, Dad, it’s me!

Mother penguin sings a penguish song as she glides through the ocean slurping ...squadrons of fish. Meanwhile, the chick is hanging on to his father’s feet for dear life as Pop waddles around the rookery.

At dinner time, the chick ponders:

It’s been one whole hour since I ate.
Why is my dinner always late?
While you and Mom procrastinate,
I might become a featherweight.
You know what I’d appreciate?
Cough it up, Dad! Regurgitate!

Mom finally returns and the chick has to figure out how to recognize her, since adult penguins tend to look... ummm... sort of the same. So he listens to what the returning females say:

Eck!
Ick!
Eek!
Awk!

None of which are what HIS mom would say.

But then he hears it - Ack? Ack? Ack? - and he knows that:

Such a sweet sounding ACK.
Lovely Mom, you've come back.
Did you bring me a snack?
Only MY mom says ACK.

He learns to swim, to the cadences of Ten little penguins, all in a line..., and has to learn to recognize predators.

Once he’s got that nailed, he and his cousins, all 33 dozen of them, go for a swim, being careful to watch for predators, and then do some serious belly-sliding:

...even penguins
Have to take the time to play.
So we go belly sliding,
Ta-tum-tum-tummy gliding...
Flying sixty miles an hour,
Solely fueled by penguin power.
Soaring far too fast to stop,
We shoot off the glacier’s top...

Our chick falls in love and sings a lovely penguin love song to the object of his affections:

Be my penguin,
My sweet penguin.
At night, by the light of the southern aurora,
We'll navigate northward toward Bora Bora
While you eat the fauna and I eat the flora.
Be my penguin.

It must work, because on the last page, we see a flock of adult penguins standing guard over their chicks.


THE ILLUSTRATIONS

I was a teench put off at first because I have a (somewhat unreasonable, perhaps) prejudice against cartoony or cute penguins. I have only non-cute birdy ones in my burgeoning collection: no top hats and tails, no Opus, no cutesy unrealistic fuzz-balls. But once I started looking more closely at these illustrations, I started appreciating them more. Yes, they are stylized and somewhat cartoony, but they are not cute, and that’s worth a lot in my book. They are to penguins what Big Nutbrown Hare and Little Nutbrown hare are to rabbits in “Guess How Much I Love You.” These guys are clearly identifiable as Emperors, although their surroundings are much more abstract. The illustrations are big and colorful - well, as colorful as black and white penguins can be against Antarctic blue and white - and children should have no trouble pointing them out at story time.


THE CREATORS

Judy Sierra has written several other books in the same vein, including “Counting Crocodiles.” She’s a puppeteer and storyteller, and clearly has a way with words and a wry sense of humor. Her verses are funny (I was cracking up) without being sentimental or talking down to their audiences. She also manages to versify about predators without making it scary for children.

Jose Aruego and Ariane Dewey work as a team and have illustrated more than 60 children’s books. I’m not sure how two people do one illustration, but there is no obvious distinction here; maybe one suggests and the other draws, or one draws and the other paints... Whatever, their work in this book is right on the mark.


SUMMARY AND VERDICT

This is a short (28 pages) book of amusing, creative verses that encompass most of the elements of penguin life. The verses are amusing without being sappy or complex, and children will enjoy them. Even if your little one isn’t a penguin freak (and why isn’t s/he, pray tell???) this is a terrific book.

Five stars.