Endangered Penguins.

Gregory Bryan is a member of the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg.

Each book in Crabtree Publishing’s Earth’s Endangered Animals series hosts a wealth of engaging full-colour photographs. All of the books contain a table of contents, an index, a glossary, and a life cycle diagram. There are 19 titles in the series; four are reviewed here.

In Endangered Penguins, the photographs are a feature. I particularly enjoyed seeing “less typical” photos including those depicting Humboldt penguins hunting for fish and macaroni penguins squabbling. Perhaps my favourite photograph, however, is the one of the line of royal penguins weaving their way between slumbering sea lions.

In Endangered Zebras, it was fascinating to read about the different stripe patterns on zebras and to learn how these patterns can be used to identify the three different groups of zebras. While plains (or Burchell’s) zebra numbers seem secure, mountain zebras and Grévy’s zebras are endangered.

Reading Endangered Bears, I learned that there are eight distinct species of bears, with some of the species containing a number of different kinds of bears. The discussion of captured bears is disturbing and children will be alarmed to learn of the abuse of captive bears.

Endangered Monkeys provides interesting information about ways that monkeys communicate. The photographs are again a great feature and the endearing facial images are sure to appeal to young readers.

School and public libraries will do well to include Crabtree’s Earth’s Endangered Animals book series on their shelves. Highly recommended.