Puffling Patrol (Adventures Around the World)
The Lewins take readers on a trip to Iceland’s Westman Islands, where Atlantic puffins return each spring to breed and raise their young, which are called pufflings. In August, when the adult puffins fly away for the winter, their fledglings must fend for themselves. Each year some fly into town rather than out to sea, but the children and adult volunteers of the Puffling Patrol rescue many of the vulnerable birds. After accompanying a team of researchers studying the puffins’ burrows in cliffs above the sea, the Lewins follow two children, twins Erna and Dáni, as they find a wayward puffling, take it home for the night, visit the natural history museum’s rescue station the next day, and help with the release of many pufflings. Wonderfully vibrant and expressive, the book’s illustrations include large watercolor paintings and smaller ink drawings with watercolor washes. Pair this large-format picture book with Bruce McMillan’s Nights of the Pufflings (1995). Grades 2-4. --Carolyn Phelan