Book Review: Augustine, the Story of an Antarctic Penguin by Mélanie Watt

Miss Lisa joins students in praising Augustine’s illustrated autobiography and peer portraits. Next week’s art show keeps conversations going over Augustine’s dinner of:

• iceberg lettuce;
• noodle soup;
• snow cones; and
• snow peas.  

It lives up to everyone’s expectations with:

• Augustine’s display recalling Henri Matisse’s (December 31, 1869 – November 3, 1954) Icarus painting;
• exhibits by Felix fox, Harry hare, Larry and Lena lemmings, Petula puffin, Polly bear, Selia seal; and
• visit by Augustine’s grandparents.

So Augustine models cultural enrichment and educational entertainment for pre-schoolers to second-graders aged 4 to 7 years and beyond, thanks to:

• Kids Can Press;
• Karen Powers, designer;
• Tara Walker, editor; and
• Mélanie Watt, acrylic and pencil crayon illustrations artist, designer, ICG Lemonade-set text’s writer. 

Augustine also nudges into the limelight:

• Salvador Dali’s (May 11, 1904 – January 23, 1989) Memory’s Persistence;
• Lawren S. Harris’ (October 23, 1885 – January 29, 1970) Mount Lefroy;
• René Magritte’s (November 21, 1898 – August 15, 1967) Decalcomania, This Isn’t a Pipe;
• Piet Mondrian’s (March 7, 1872 – February 1, 1944) Composition with Red, Yellow and Blue;
• Claude Monet’s (November 14, 1840 – December 5, 1926) Houses of Parliament;
• Edvard Munch’s (December 12, 1863 – January 23, 1944) Scream;
• Vincent van Gogh’s (March 30, 1853 – July 29, 1890) Bedroom;
• Leonardo da Vinci’s (April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519) Mona Lisa;
• Andy Warhol’s (August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) Campbell’s Soup Can; and
• Grant Wood’s (February 13, 1891 – February 12, 1942) American Gothic. 

So Mélanie's picture book operates to advance entertaining, practical, relevant knowledge in terms of a number of learning domains and through a pile of learning tools. For example, Augustine provides coping skills with the sadness of leaving familiar, well-loved people and places and the stress of surviving unfamiliar, unlike objects and organisms. Readers consequently quit the culture and wildlife of one of Planet Earth’s regions for the unexpected, unknown residents and resources of another.

In the process, readers realize what works in every, no, or one interaction or situation. They savor these deep truths on the many fronts which cutting-edge science and technology offer the twenty-first century’s savvy denizen, such as Augustine’s overlap between artistry and environmentalism.

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Mélanie Watt's artistic penguin Augustine is transplanted from her native Antarctica to a new school in the North Pole, where her artistic gifts break the ice and help her to make friends.
view toward NNE from Rothera Research Station (Adelaide Island, Antarctic Peninsula) over Laubeuf Fjord: Vincent van Zeijst, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Antarctica_(7),_Laubeuf_Fjord,_Webb_Island.JPG

Mélanie Watt spotlights famous artworks, such as Salvador Dali's "Persistence of Memory" by way of her artistic penguin Augustine.
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), mid-town Manhattan, New York City: Mike Steele (hannibal1107), CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/21022123@N04/15694508911/

Mélanie Watt introduces children to art through spotlighting famous artworks, such as Edvard Munch's "The Scream," by way of an artistic penguin, Augustine.
The National Gallery, Oslo, southeastern Norway: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Scream.jpg

Mélanie Watt spotlights famous artworks, such as Vincent Van Gogh's "Bedroom," in her children's story about an artistic penguin named Augustine.
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, North Holland Province, northwestern Netherlands: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vincent_van_Gogh_-_De_slaapkamer_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

In her story about an artistic penguin named Augustine, Mélanie Watt includes one of the world's most famous paintings, La Joconde, known popularly as Mona Lisa.
Louvre Museum; Right Bank, 1er arrondissement, Paris, central Île-de-France Region, north central France: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mona_Lisa,_by_Leonardo_da_Vinci,_from_C2RMF_retouched.jpg

Watt, Mélanie. 2006. Augustine. Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and Tonawanda, NY, U.S.A.: Kids Can Press Ltd.