Protecting the Planet: Emperor of the Ice

Protecting the Planet: Emperor of the Ice

Nicola Davies

Catherine Rayner

Walker Books, 2024

32pp., pbk., RRP $A16.99

9781529514414

It’s April, and one of the most important months of the year for the Emperor penguins as the sun gets lower and lower in the sky, the temperatures drop and the sea ice starts to form and provide the platform for them to breed.  Smooth enough to walk and slide on, and low enough for the birds to be able to leap into the ocean, it lasts just long enough to be able to raise a chick and so, as the day shorten, satellites pick up long lines of these creatures – the largest and most majestic of all the penguin species – making their way to Halley Bay, Antarctica “like spidery writing across a blank page.”  There they will bond, mate and raise a solitary chick – but could this be the last time the rituals and routines happen?

In this beautifully illustrated book, we follow a sequence of events that has happened since time immemorial, but, as with so many creatures, climate change is having an impact even in this remote spot.  In fact, it is probably more noticeable in these extreme climates where more severe storms rage than ever before and the amount of sea ice is noticeably less. Since severe storms in September 2016 broke up the sea ice in Halley Bay, no Emperor penguins have bred there. And although satellites have been able to confirm that there are 61 breeding sites (compared to the known 36 before that imagery was available), showing that they have found alternatives, there are estimated to be only just over 250 000 breeding pairs and their changing habitat means fewer chicks are surviving to independence.  

Climate change, human impact on natural habitat, and the planet’s sustainability and preservation are now deeply embedded into the curriculum from the earliest years and even our youngest students have a growing awareness of its potential.  So books like these, which do more than explain what it is by showing its effect on creatures that they relate to, have an important role to play in helping them understand not only what is happening but start them thinking about what they can do to minimise their own footprint.

An ideal companion for the others in the series- The Season of Giraffes  and Ice Journey of the Polar Bear.