Customer Reviews

Antarctic Journal: Four Months at the Bottom of the World

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Jennifer Owings Dewey spent four months in Antarctic sketching and photographing wildlife, and writing this wonderful book about the “last great wilderness on earth.” The trip was made possible by a grant from the National Science Foundation. The book jacket claims that it is appropriate for age 7 and up… well perhaps for a precocious child. I think that ( ) has it right. Age 9 to 12 seems more appropriate.

Written as a cross between a diary and letters home, and interspersed with drawings, and photographs, this is a small, almost intimate book. I read the “Antarctic Journal” out loud to my 11 year-old daughter. We talked about each journal entry or letter home, and looked at all the pictures together. We were introduced to the Adelie penguins, nesting gentoos, blue whales, Weddell seals, and krill. We were given a little history lesson starting 200 million years ago with Gondwanaland, and many lessons in nature. Antarctic has only one year-round land-resident, a mite. It’s the size of a pinhead. Also, male and female penguins share parenting, and they are absolutely devoted parents. A “parent penguin suffering heat stroke will not abandon its nest. It will fall dead in a heap first.” Antarctica has its own etiquette. Human visitors to Antarctica are not allowed to touch any wildlife. However, penguins did check out the author, her clothes, and typewriter.

So many nature books are dry. This one is clever, well written, and interesting. It is a wonderful addition to our home library. I highly recommend it.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in Antarctica? The author lived there for four months. She wrote a book about her life in Antarctica called Antarctic Journal: Four Months at the Bottom of the World. In Antarctica she saw many animals like penguins, ice fish, whales, and elephant seals. Ice fish have special blood that won't freeze because they live in very cold water. She lived at Palmer Station on Anvers Island. While she was there she drew a lot of pictures of the animals and landscape. I learned many interesting things about Antarctica. For example; there are one hundred million penguins. No humans live there. It is five and a quarter million square miles. It's bigger than Europe. In Antarctica the sun is always shining. I think you should read this book because it has a lot of interesting information about Antarctica and a lot of pictures of animals.