English / Canada
The tragic tale of the great auk
Thornhill, Jan
(text/illus.)
Toronto [et al.]: Groundwood Books / House of Anansi Press, 2016. – [44] p.
ISBN 978-1-55498-865-5
Great auk | Ecology | Extinction | Bird | Diversity | Non-fiction | Picture book
Reading age: 8+
White Ravens issue: 2017
The story of the admirable and proud great auk that once populated the Northern Atlantic Ocean shows how extinction can have multiple, intermingling causes: evolution, climate change, and human intervention. Naturalistic illustrations combine wide views of the bird’s rugged habitat of swirling seas and rocky shores with closer, emotional images: a fluffy chick being fed by its parent, and, later, the last known auk egg lying on a rocky ledge, broken. The final spread features clusters of other birds, including puffins, now living on Funk Island, standing next to the haunting, ghostly white outlines of the auks that once called it home. In the end, young readers will understand there is no simple lesson to be learned from the great auk’s demise. Instead, the worlds of humans and animals are complexly intertwined. This sad yet beautiful tale will encourage discussion and offer hope, as the extinction of the great auk led to the establishment of modern bird conservation efforts.