Today Caramel is talking to Sprinkles about Great Minds and Finds in Antarctica by Robin Koontz, first published in 2021.
Sprinkles: So Caramel, what do you have for us today?
Caramel: We have a book about the coolest place in the world.
S: And where would that be?
C: Antarctica!
S: Oh I think you were being a bit punny, weren’t you?
C: Yep, I was. Antarctica is cool because it is interesting, but also it is very very very cold, so doubly cool!
S: I like that! So okay, the book is about Antarctica. So it is a book of facts, right?
C: Yep, it’s mostly facts, my favorite.
S: Yay! So what was a fun fact you learned in this book?
C: I learned that in Antarctica, they have this thing called the Antarctic hair grass.
S: What’s that?
C: It’s a type of grass, and I find it cool because they look like a person’s hair if it was green..
S: I guess that is why they are called hair grass. Wikipedia says they are one of only two species of flowering plants native to Antarctica.
C: That is cool too!
S: What else did you learn from the book?
C: Many many things. For example, some really cool animals live in Antarctica, like the yeti crab, which has hairy arms.
S: I knew that some penguins lived there, but I did not know about the yeti crabs. They do look weird!
C: A lot of other weird things live there, too. Another one is the skua. It is a bird, looks kind of like a pigeon.
S: I did not know about the skua either! Apparently, it is kind of a vicious bird. It kills penguin babies.
C: Oh, yeah, that’s not cool. They are predators and so are very aggressive. But they too have their own predators. It is a wild world out there.
S: Agreed. So let us get back to the book itself. Is the book a random collection of facts about Antarctica or is there some sort of an organization?
C: Well, there are chapters, and many of them are really cool. For example, the first one is: “Where in the World is Antarctica?”
S: That makes sense, to start with the geographic location.
C: Yes. Then there is the second chapter, called “Giant Ice and Extreme Life”. There is a chapter on “Ancient Remains”, a chapter called “A Mysterious Continent”, another called “Protecting Icy Life”. The others are called “Life Underwater”, “Changing Climate”, and “Amazing Antarctica”.
S: That sounds like a good spread of topics. But I am curious. What is “A Mysterious Continent” about?
C: It is about how the first European people to explore Antarctica thought it was haunted, because of the cold.
S: That is interesting. So kind of like a brief history of its discovery. Is the chapter “Ancient Remains” also about history then?
C: Yes, but it is even more ancient history, like the animals frozen in the ice from many centuries ago.
S: That is cool! Okay so it seems like this was a good book for you, with so many facts. Did you know that the same author has several other books in this same series called “Discoveries Around the World”, and the whole series has one book for each continent?
C: Oh, I didn’t know that! Maybe we can read some of those other books, too.
S: Yeah, I will see if we can get a hold of any of the others. It is kind of nice to think about the world in terms of its continents. Not countries and national borders and such but purely geographical and physical borders.
C: Yep, isn’t it cool? That is how we bunnies see the world. Maybe humans could too, one day.
S: Oh Caramel! How I wish! Okay, so last question about the book. It looks like a very colorful one with lots of pictures. Can you tell us a bit about the pictures? Are they hand-drawn illustrations or photographs or maps?
C: They are mostly pictures, but they have some drawings, too. They are, as you said, all very colorful. And I thought they were informative. I learned a lot.
S: What more could one ask of a book? Thanks Caramel. I think we have enough for a post. Let us wrap this up.
C: Okay. I can always go and read another book.
S: Sure. So what do you want to tell our readers as we wrap it up?
C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!
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