Beach Bums! Penguin on Vacation by Salina Yoon

"I NEED A VACATION," PENGUIN SIGHED.

Penguin has had it with winter sports. He's skated, skiied, sledded, and enjoyed diving off ice floes, and now he's just plain  over it with winter sports.

What he needs is a beach with some sand and sun!

"SOMEPLACE TROPICAL!"

Penguin packs up and catches the next floe for the tropics. But when he get there, he not exactly sure what to do on an island with sand and surf.  He stumbles over shells, get bombarded by a falling coconut under the palms,  and discovers that his sledding and skiing skills don't quite work out on sand.. . and besides, the hot sand even burns his feet!

Then a friendly little red crab takes Penguin under his, er, claw and shows him around the beach. Soon the two master the beach scene together. Penguin fashions skiis from bamboo and sleds from the palm fronds and crab plays beach ball with him as well.

But as Penguin points out, all vacations have to end in going back home, and after a while he sadly bids his new-found beach buddy farewell.

But the goodbyes turn out to be premature, because when Penguin unpacks back at his polar home, he finds that he has a stowaway along for the ride.

"I NEED A VACATION, TOO!" SAID CRAB.

BEST BEACH  BUDDIES FOREVER describes Crab and Penguin, in Salina Yoon's Penguin on Vacation (Walker, 2013).  With plenty of sunny, good-natured humor in her bright illustrations, author-illustrator Yoon adds a new Penguin tale to her recent popular Penguin and Pinecone, making a delightful pair of finding-a-friend penguin tales. As School Library Journal adds, "Yoon's crisp and clean Photoshop illustrations add depth, whimsy, and action to the text. Penguin in a stripped bathing suit circa 1920 and Crab wearing a scarf and mittens should not be missed."