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Review: The Tufted Puffins of Triangle Island


The Tufted Puffins of Triangle Island
Written by Deborah Hodge
Illustrated by Karen Reczuch
Toronto; Berkeley : Groundwood Books : House of Anansi Press, 2025.

Triangle Island is a wild, treeless island, with fierce storms and wild waves.  This wildness helps keep the island secluded from people and land predators, which is one of the reasons it's an ideal location for many seabirds to nest, including Tufted Puffins.  The protected nature of the island-- it's an ecological reserve and a designated marine wildlife area-- also helps keep this a safe place for the thousands of nesting birds that come yearly to lay their eggs. 

This is not a book about climate change, but it's not not a book about climate change, either. The puffins that come to Triangle Island rely on teeming groups of small fish near the shores to feed their young, and the warming waters from climate change have affected the supply of fish. Scientists have tracked lower fledgling rates amongst many of the seabirds because of warming waters.  The insight into one bird that relies on the ecological safety of this small island is not only interesting, but encourages readers to support efforts to combat climate change.  

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