The Whole Truth and Nothing But! Puffin Peter by Petr Horocek

PETER AND PAUL WERE THE BEST OF FRIENDS.

Two puffin pals, Peter and Paul are inseparable, fishing and swimming in the waters around their rocky little island in the ocean.  Although they look just alike--with big, banded colorful bills, big eyes, black and white feathers, and webbed feet--Peter thinks Paul is the boisterous, funny one.

Then one day when they are swimming, a huge storm arises and a rogue wave sweeps Peter away and when he revives, he finds himself being supported by a big blue whale who wants to help. Peter tells him he is looking for his friend.

"WHAT'S HE LIKE?" the whale asks helpfully.

"OH, PAUL IS FUNNY AND NOISY!"

"I KNOW JUST WHERE TO LOOK!" says the whale.

The kindly whale takes Peter on his back and swims off to a warm, tropical island where colorful parrots are calling raucously in the trees

Sadly, Peter tells the whale that Paul is not that sort of bird. He's more... black and white.

The whale knows just where to look for funny, noisy, black and white birds--way down south closer to the South Pole, where he shows Peter some loud birds with formal black and white feathers.

"PAUL IS NOT A PENGUIN!" protests Peter.

Peter points out that Paul is black and white and funny and noisy like the penguins, but Paul also has a big colorful beak. The patient whale takes Peter to a shore where there are some raucous birds with huge colorful bills--a whole flock of toucans! Black and white, loud and funny, with colorful bills, but not Paul! Peter is beginning to despair of ever finding his friend.  But then, as they swim by a rocky, little island in the middle of nowhere, suddenly--there's Paul!

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?" cried the whale.

"TELL YOU WHAT?" asked Peter.

"THAT HE WAS A PUFFIN JUST LIKE YOU!"

Petr Horachek's latest, Puffin Peter (Candlewick, 2013). brilliantly illustrated in the glowing colors of  exotic birds, is a little play on the the timeless question, what is truth? In this humorous little parable, all of Peter's statements are true as far as they go, but are not of much value without the whole truth and nothing but!  Horocek's faithful illustration of these featured feathered friends is a delightful little lesson in avian varieties, and the funny story of this ocean-going good Samaritan points out that sometimes it's important to tell all!