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A review by gymnerdreader
A Mother's Journey by Sandra Markle
5.0
Annotated Bibliography Entry: A Mother's Journey by: Sandra Markle
Summary:
This book is a non-fiction book about penguins from the time the chick's egg is laid to the mother's journey for food that follows. This book discusses how the male penguins are the ones responsible for keeping the egg incubated, while the female is responsible for hunting for food for the chick. The females journey is a pretty treacherous one and the females have to withstand trekking through mostly ice and avoiding predators, such as seals when they are hunting. After their journey is done they return home with food for their baby, while it is the male's turn to hunt for himself.
Personal Response:
Since this is narrative non-fiction, it has a storytelling aspect to it, rather than being purely factual. I like that aspect of it because it keeps your interest as knowing all the facts can sometimes be boring to read about. I loved the subject matter as well because I ABSOLUTELY ADORE penguins. They are definitely my favorite animals so getting a chance to read about them was definitely awesome for me. I was immediately interested based off the subject matter. As for kids who may or may not have an obsession with penguins (such as me haha), I still think it would be an appealing story merely from the narrative aspect of it. The narrative structure allows students to accurately follow the female's journey in a very straightforward way. I think having the book told in a narrative makes it easier to understand. Definitely a great non-fiction selection for kids!
Descriptions of Illustrations:
I found the illustrations to be very appealing probably in part because I love penguins. What I love most about the illustrations is how it represented the setting and the journey itself. Just by looking at the illustrations you can tell the journey is a difficult one. There are numerous snow storms illustrated with a lot of white dots so much that it takes up most of the page at one point. It really illustrates how bad the storm is. Predators are illustrated in the same way. Readers can get the sense by looking at the illustrations that the predators are threatening, etc. Overall, the pictures really enhance the dramatization of the narrative. I think that aspect would be appealing for kids.
Classroom Connections:
There are a lot of ways teachers could use this book in the classroom. Teachers can use this book to teach them about narrative non-fiction and they can discuss the story structure as a class as well as the non-fiction elements. Students could also use a graphic organizer to fill in the details about penguins, which may take a bit of digging to find due to the narrative structure. There is a lot students could learn about penguins by just finding the info embedded within the narrative. Students could also compare and contrast male penguins from the female penguins, what their jobs are, etc. There are quite a few differences regarding male and female penguins. I also think it would be cool for students to create their own penguin character (using a paper bag and some other materials and write their own brief narratives of the penguin's journey. They could talk about the mother's journey from multiple perspectives: the male, the female or the baby penguin. This would give students a chance to be creative as well as learn a bit more about penguins. This would also be an excellent book to use during an animal study as there are a lot of things students could learn about penguins from reading this book.
Summary:
This book is a non-fiction book about penguins from the time the chick's egg is laid to the mother's journey for food that follows. This book discusses how the male penguins are the ones responsible for keeping the egg incubated, while the female is responsible for hunting for food for the chick. The females journey is a pretty treacherous one and the females have to withstand trekking through mostly ice and avoiding predators, such as seals when they are hunting. After their journey is done they return home with food for their baby, while it is the male's turn to hunt for himself.
Personal Response:
Since this is narrative non-fiction, it has a storytelling aspect to it, rather than being purely factual. I like that aspect of it because it keeps your interest as knowing all the facts can sometimes be boring to read about. I loved the subject matter as well because I ABSOLUTELY ADORE penguins. They are definitely my favorite animals so getting a chance to read about them was definitely awesome for me. I was immediately interested based off the subject matter. As for kids who may or may not have an obsession with penguins (such as me haha), I still think it would be an appealing story merely from the narrative aspect of it. The narrative structure allows students to accurately follow the female's journey in a very straightforward way. I think having the book told in a narrative makes it easier to understand. Definitely a great non-fiction selection for kids!
Descriptions of Illustrations:
I found the illustrations to be very appealing probably in part because I love penguins. What I love most about the illustrations is how it represented the setting and the journey itself. Just by looking at the illustrations you can tell the journey is a difficult one. There are numerous snow storms illustrated with a lot of white dots so much that it takes up most of the page at one point. It really illustrates how bad the storm is. Predators are illustrated in the same way. Readers can get the sense by looking at the illustrations that the predators are threatening, etc. Overall, the pictures really enhance the dramatization of the narrative. I think that aspect would be appealing for kids.
Classroom Connections:
There are a lot of ways teachers could use this book in the classroom. Teachers can use this book to teach them about narrative non-fiction and they can discuss the story structure as a class as well as the non-fiction elements. Students could also use a graphic organizer to fill in the details about penguins, which may take a bit of digging to find due to the narrative structure. There is a lot students could learn about penguins by just finding the info embedded within the narrative. Students could also compare and contrast male penguins from the female penguins, what their jobs are, etc. There are quite a few differences regarding male and female penguins. I also think it would be cool for students to create their own penguin character (using a paper bag and some other materials and write their own brief narratives of the penguin's journey. They could talk about the mother's journey from multiple perspectives: the male, the female or the baby penguin. This would give students a chance to be creative as well as learn a bit more about penguins. This would also be an excellent book to use during an animal study as there are a lot of things students could learn about penguins from reading this book.