EMPEROR PENGUIN

Up close and personal with the world’s largest penguin.

Emperors, according to marine biologist LaRue, and Adélie penguins are the only ones of the clan’s 18 species that actually live in Antarctica. Emperors can dive deeper than any other bird, sport 12 different kinds of feathers, and may not be able to fly but are fine swimmers and even “pretty good climbers.” These and like juicy info-bits are scattered on pages festooned with images of adult and hatchling penguins enhanced with maps, portraits of the creatures' prey and predators (some killer whales are “partial to a penguin,” the author writes), current and extinct relatives, required clothing and gear for Antarctic researchers, and occasional humans that show scale (all the people are tan- or light-skinned). A final spread on the habitat threat posed by climate change puts a cap on the cuteness by featuring a droopy bird captioned “Reduced sea ice = unhappy penguins.” No one wants that, surely. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Informative and winning.