Sydney and the Sea Monster by David Elliot

This is the first book I have read by New Zealander author/illustrator David Elliot and I was impressed. It proved to be a superb tool for teaching my students how to write a narrative focusing on character development, conflicts and resolutions. It also affords some nice examples of literary devices such as similes, personification and the deft use of adverbs. My upper primary audience really appreciated the humour in the book, especially the "candles with strange long wicks" which the main character Sydney Penguin discovers in a mysterious box that has been thrown up out of the swell of the sea. The story focuses on this would-be inventor and an Antarctic community of animals who live in constant fear of sealers and whalers. And...one day indeed they do arrive:

Next morning, the monstrous shadow of a sailing ship loomed out of the mist. It bristled with harpoons and cudgels and a feeling of menace. 
A boat was lowered over the side. The terrified animals began to run.

Flipping Brilliant by Patrick Regan and Jonathan Chester

A feel good, often amusing, gift book that likens penguins to people. It contains some little lines of wisdom and the photography is brilliant, as the title suggests. "Life is not black and white. There are two kinds of penguins: the white ones coming toward you and the black ones going away from you. That probably qualifies as the oldest joke in the Antarctic. It's not true of course. There are actually seventeen different kinds of penguins...It's tempting to sometimes see the world in black and white and to take unwavering positions about right and wrong. But things are seldom that simple..."

Each double page spread has a photo and some words of wisdom. The photos are fully explained in the back, regarding the penguin/s in the photos and the location. It's a nice little read and might be worth a revisit from time to time; just to help keep things in life in perspective.

Jonathan Chester, the photographer, is also an author and a film producer. The photographs in this book are from his many Antarctica expeditions. Author, Patrick Regan, has written quite a few gift books including Punch Out the President and The Book of Bad Habits.