Novel set in ITALY (1950s glamour and WW2 legacy)
Children’s Book set in the Galapagos Islands (meet Wally and his friends)
14th December 2014
Wally the Warm-Weather Penguin by Stephanie M Ward, Illustrated by Vanessa Landin, children’s book set in the Galapagos Islands
This is an absolutely gorgeous children’s book, and we are really excited to review this as our first children’s book on the blog. It is the story of Wally the Emperor Penguin who wants to be somewhere warm. So he sets off from Antartica and lands in the Galapagos Islands where he encounters blue-footed boobies and Sally Lightfoot crabs, with their multicoloured shells. Delightfully illustrated with Fascinating Facts about the Galapagos Islands at the end of the book. A great book for a child, nice poetic prose and strong, colourful and very appealing visuals.
Tina for the TripFiction Team… and now I will hand over to Stephanie, to tell you a little more about what inspired her to write this book for children
I had the opportunity to travel around the world on my honeymoon and visited 33 countries in one year. Wally the Warm-Weather Penguin was inspired by visiting both Antarctica and the Galapagos Islands within a couple of months on that trip. In Antarctica, I was surrounded by Emperor Penguins in extraordinarily cold and icy conditions. It made me wonder why they didn’t just pack up and go somewhere warmer. A couple of months later, I was in the Galapagos Islands and saw a colony of Galapagos Penguins hanging out on the beach, swimming in relatively warm water and there was the story: What if an Emperor Penguin learned that he could live on a warm, tropical island?
The purpose of my writing is to try to teach children something new about the world around them. The Galapagos Islands is a pefect example of an incredibly interesting place that simply flies under the radar of most kids.
I wanted to give back to the local community that inspired Wally the Warm-Weather Penguin. To that end, I worked with a talented illustrator from Ecuador (where the story is based) and donate a portion of the proceeds to the Galapagos Conservancy (galapagos.org) supporting the conservation of the Galapagos Islands.
You can follow Stephanie on Twitter and Wally The Warm-Weather Penguin on Facebook!
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Thanks TripFiction for the wonderful post. I’m thrilled that my debut kidlit book is the first children’s book listed on this fantastic site!
Warm wishes for the new year,
Stephanie Ward
Tina, it’s a really sweet review 🙂