The Galápagos are just south of the equator and they have penguins. Huh? It’s true. Galápagos penguins are the farthest northern breed and are related to Magellan penguins. I liked how the book and the 3-D glasses were designed. They were hard plastic and the cardboard around it was unbendable. Trust me, I tried it. The topic was very interesting. The book gave ocean facts as well as land ones, unlike my other Galápagos book. What I liked most about the book was that it didn’t have one, and just one, page about an animal. What I liked th e least was that they gave no explanation of what the Charles Darwin research station is. But I did learn a lot, including that the Galápagos were once thought to be enchanted islands unconnected to the ocean floor, and that they were never connected to the mainland. It was fun to read. The only thing I would change is this: give an explanation of the Charles Darwin research station. My favourite photo was of a sea lion pup. It was so cute and such a darling. To describe the book in one word I would say “neat” and I’d give it 9 out of 10.

(Originally published in the Nov/Dec 2001 issue of YES Mag.)