Dyan Denapoli

This is a somewhat quirky but enjoyable look at the largest penguin rescue to date. It turns out there are millions of sunken ships in the ocean, plus new ones, and over time they burp oil which rises to the surface where penguin's are among the most vulnerable since they can't fly. So "penguin oilings" are a common occurrence, particularly in South Africa where there are many birds and ships together. A few dedicated people in the world like Dyan deNapoli are on the front lines ensuring the survival of the species by de-oiling penguins when events occur.

As another reviewer mentioned the book has one honking problem which is the amount of repeated material, both conceptually and word for word grammatically. For example saying the same thing 2, 3 or even 4 times closely together. Or in different parts of the book, whole paragraphs are seemingly cut and pasted with re-arrangement. As if deNapoli struck on a good idea and revisits it again and again for lack of anything new to say. However, I just let it go as the ramblings of an overly passionate person. Somehow it works in the end as a document of a passionate animal lover, there were times I choked up, real emotion was conveyed. It was published by Free Press which is an imprint of Simon and Schuster "Books for Young Readers" so presumably the repeating is for the benefit of younger readers. More likely the book was poorly edited, or padded for length, or both, but still has its moments and I learned a lot about this area of conservation which is new to me. deNapoli is to be admired.… (más)

The author provides an incredible amount of information about penguins!!! But the complete story of this particular rescue of such a large group of them was so detailed and descriptively told! Just amazing. And of course it wasn't just a description of the penguins---it was about the people, the wonderful people, in huge numbers, who worked so hard at this terribly difficult task. deNapoli really gave you a feel for the entire experience---you could almost see, smell and feel the whole thing through her words.

After writing the above paragraph I did read the earlier review and yes, there was lots of repetition, but perhaps because I was reading the book in small pieces rather than in more lengthy reading periods, it did not bother me as much---certainly not enough to reduce my rating of the book.… (más)

I am a huge penguin lover and was very excited to read this book. DeNapoli was part of an impressive and commendable penguin rescue off the coast of South Africa following an oil spill that put half of the world's African Penguin population at risk. The book has the makings for a great read but unfortunately suffers from an apparent lack of editing. The first several chapters are cloyed by paragraphs that contain sentences which restate the same idea, only somewhat differently. Such lack of editing results in added time just to get through even after we understand the point. Primarily the paragraphs involving self-reflection or statements of feeling are very wordy. Overall the paragraphs could have been tightened. I would have preferred a better edited book and had a sinking feeling just reading it. I wondered, what would others think? In some cases three or more sentences could be condensed into one sentence for a more compelling read. Such lack of editing results in a longer than necessary book and most likely will frustrate those readers who value tight writing. I for one was frustrated.

Take the above paragraph in my review as an intentional example of poor editing. I could have more effectively stated that 'deNapoli frequently restates ideas within sentences or paragraphs of each other, though in slightly different ways (or in ways that could have been inferred from other sentences), thus resulting in an overall longer and less effective book. I prefer tighter paragraphs and thus put down this book midway through the third chapter, never to return'

I don't believe deNapoli is a writer by trade so I blame the editors here. I hate to turn anybody off from an informative story about penguins, so I recommend giving the book a shot if you aren't like me and suffer from an unlikeable tendency to edit.… (más)