My Polar Animals Journal: In search of Polar Bears, Penguins, Whales and Seals Hardcover – 3 September 2012

I was looking for something more like hours book about elephants. This was a journal he kept while in the artic.

Bought for my son to do a polar project. Fantastic photographs and lots of interesting facts. He tuck book to school and it was used by some of his friends to do their projects as well

bought for my nephews 8th birthday - found the book to be perfect for what he likes. Very factual with beautiful photo's that are really inspiring for kids.

The media could not be loaded. 'My Polar Animals Journal' is a full-colour picture journal of wildlife photographer Steve Bloom's expedition to the Arctic (i.e. the Polar North) and the Antarctic (i.e. the Polar South). As such, the book is split into two distinct halves, the first detailing Bloom's experience in the Arctic, and the latter in the Antarctic.The book is clearly aimed at children from around 7 to around 12 years of age. The text is therefore reasonably basic and not too challenging. Bloom explains certain words such as 'Tundra' and 'Whiteout' as well as providing short little facts on the various animals that he has managed to capture in their natural habitat and Top-Tips on taking good wildlife photographs in particularly cold conditions.The first few pages of the book provide the reader with a quick overview of what the two expeditions will entail. In a way it's a kind of expanded contents page, setting down the timescale and where Bloom will be and the sort of wildlife he hopes to encounter on his journey.And then we're off. The journal really starts here, on page ten, with Day One, where Bloom shows his first photographs of his time spent in the Arctic. From here the journal details Bloom's experience capturing photographs of polar bears (6 pages), whales (4 pages), an artic fox (1 page), whooper swans (small paragraph) and horned puffins (small paragraph).By now we're half the way through the book and it's on to the Polar South. Like with the first half of the book, this second half of the journal contains the same sort of facts, information, and top-tips alongside Bloom's own journal experiences in the Antarctic.Starting at Day twenty-two, the journal covers Bloom's shots of penguins (6 pages), albatrosses (4 pages), a handful of other birds that can be seen in the Antarctic (2 pages) and finally seals (6 pages).The book ends with a couple of pages on photo tips and then a final couple of pages suggesting possible projects for keen wildlife photographer wannabes.All in all both my wife and I agree that the journal is a beautifully presented book that is sure to inspire children who are showing an early interest in either animals or photography. Running at just 48 pages, the book isn't particularly long, but does cover a good range of animals in these two extreme regions of our world, with truly stunning pictures to really capture your kids interest.The facts aren't too overbearing and involved, just giving the basics, with easy to understand descriptions and explanations, which will educate as well as hopefully keep the child's interest. The top tips are similarly simplistic providing little nuggets of wisdom in wildlife photography which your child can easily understand and use if they wish to try taking a few 'animal photos' themselves (obviously not at the Arctic or anything!!!)So, overall we're pretty impressed with the book. It clearly has an age range and audience in mind, and we feel that it hits this target age perfectly.

This book contains some stunning images of polar animals along with several facts not only about the animals but about photography and how the pictures were taken.It is interesting to all ages, the younger ones for the images of the creatures and the older ones for the information about the animals and about photography.The book only has a small number of pages (48) but they are packed full of images.