Go With The Floe! Penguin's Big Adventure by Salina Yoon

ONE DAY PENGUIN HAD A BIG IDEA.

HE WANTED TO DO SOMETHING NO PENGUIN HAD EVER DONE BEFORE.

Penguin has never been one to shrink from new experiences. He's floated to a vacation on a tropical isle. He's followed his heart to find a friend. He's even ventured to a distant land to find signs of fall for his curious little brother.

But this penguin still has a yen to boldly go where no penguin has gone before.

HE WANTED TO BE THE FIRST PENGUIN EVER TO SET FOOT ON THE NORTH POLE.

Penguin is a veteran of life at the South Pole, so the North Pole should be a piece of cake, right?

But first, he's got to get there. Just leaving home takes some planning, and some goodbyes. Emily seems strangely absorbed in sewing a bright quilt she is making, and little Pumpkin is so busy weaving a big basket that he hardly has more than a wave for him. Bootsy also seems all tied up with the long, long coil of rope she is braiding. There seems to be no farewell parade, no Bon Voyage Party in the offing for Penguin.

Oh, well. Penguin embarks. He floats northward, stopping along the way to visit with some old friends from his earlier adventures--Crab, Whale, and even Pinecone. But his stops are short and he continues his voyage, until at last, he's there.

Penguin celebrates, but he does so alone. The North Pole--well, there's a lot of there there, and his shouts of success just echo off the frozen landscape with no welcoming answers back.

Until at last, he spots a bit of movement in the expanse of white. It's Polar Bear, who seems amazed to finally meet that icon of the Other Pole--a penguin at his pole. Polar Bear's worlds are colliding!

TOGETHER THEY WENT ON A NORTH POLE ADVENTURE.

As they sail forth to explore the Arctic Ocean on a handy floe, Penguin spots something strange in the sky, floating closer and closer. It seems to be an aircraft of some sort--one with a patchwork hot air balloon and a really big basket suspended by braided ropes. Could it be who Penguin thinks it is?

It seems true friendship goes to the ends of the earth, in Salina Yoon's latest, Penguin's Big Adventure (Bloomsbury Press, 2015), her fourth book in her Penguin Adventures series. Yoon's now familiar artistic style--thick black lines delineating figures done in deep opaque colors--is there, as School Library Journal suggests, saying, "Yoon manages to create visual dynamism despite the illustrations' static simplicity by changing the page layouts to include spreads with horizon lines, framed tableaux, sequenced action, and thought bubbles." Also there is Yoon's steady premise, the emphasis on the value of friendship among her polar personalities, even new friends to be found in exotic new places. Will Polar Bear soon hop a floe or a freighter for a visit to the South Pole? Fans of Yoon's adventurer Penguin can only hope.

See reviews of Yoon's earlier Penguin adventures here.