Waiting for Joey: An Antarctic Penguin Journal

Pennycook, a wildlife biologist and educator, documents her multiple trips to Ross Island, Antarctica, where she and a team of researchers study Adélie penguins. Pennycook reflects on her first expedition to the harsh landscape, where she learned to weigh, measure, and band penguin chicks—including a small penguin that she named Joey—and grew to understand “predation, starvation, abandonment, and loss” as part of penguin life. Photographs depict penguins on ice and in water, along with images of the team’s modest living arrangements (a tent and hut). Joey serves as a touchstone in Pennycook’s story as she awaits the penguin’s arrival to the island each season. Throughout, Pennycook engagingly describes penguin behavior, biology, and threats posed to them through global warming. Through Pennycook’s storytelling, readers gain a vivid sense of what life as a wildlife researcher in a singular environment is like. Ages 8–12. [em](Sept.) [/em]