South with the Seabirds

By 1959 many adventurers and explorers had stopped at Macquarie Island in the sub-Antarctic, but no female naturalists had been allowed to join these expeditions. This picture book is an account of the first voyage to the island which included female scientists, who had all written independently to the authorities asking to visit and study the wildlife.

It is an interesting account of the expedition as far as it goes, but it asks more questions than it answers. How long did the expedition take? What specifics did they study and what were their conclusions? Were their findings significant in any way? What did the other researchers study? (These scientists were part of a larger expedition.) Maybe it is too big a topic to put in a picture book, but I think it did need a few more conclusions to create a focus for the story.

There are very clear, colourful and informative illustrations of the birds that accompanied them on their voyage, and the wildlife, flora and fauna that they studied while they were there. There is also a timeline of events for Macquarie Island at the back of the book.

I would recommend this for 6 years and up.