Feeding Time

Text 1: The Penguin Pool, by Raphael Dunstan

An original novel extract.

The zoo did not open until ten, but by half past six Mags was already in her waders, a bucket of sprats in each hand, crunching across the frosty path towards the penguin pool. The rest of the place was still asleep. A peacock sat on a fence like a forgotten hat. Somewhere behind the reptile house a gibbon began its morning song, a long rising whoop that went up and up and broke into bubbling laughter.

The penguins heard the buckets before they saw her. They came scrambling out of their burrows in a black-and-white rush, honking, shoving, flapping their stubby wings, and lined up along the edge of the pool like impatient diners. Mags knew every one of them by name and by temper: Pickle the biter, patient old Admiral, and Little Moss, who had hatched in the spring and still had grey fluff on his head, like a boy who had not combed his hair.

She crouched and began to throw, one fish at a time, saying each name aloud. The sprats flashed silver in the cold air and vanished down eager throats with a gulp. Her fingers were numb and smelled of fish and would smell of fish all day. She did not mind. When the buckets were empty, Moss waddled over and leaned his whole small weight against her boot, and Mags stayed exactly where she was until he had finished deciding to move.

How does Raphael Dunstan use language and structure to show Mags’s pleasure in her work?

You should use relevant subject terminology to support your answer.