Wings? I Can Fly by Fifo Kuo

Little Penguin's eyes are on the skies. He wanted to fly like the gulls.

"Penguins can't fly," his father says.

"They swim!"

Little Penguin doesn't want to swim. He wants to soar through the sky like the other seabirds. Perhaps he just needs to try harder. He flaps and flaps his wings until he's too tired to flap another flap and stumbles and tumbles down the slope and into the water. Father follows quickly into the sea with him.

Suddenly Little Penguin is soaring and swooping and leaping into the air and diving back into the ocean. He is flying, only under water, having as much fun as the gulls.

It's good to dream high-flying dreams, but sometimes it's better to follow your own talents, in Fifo Kuo's I Can't Can Fly (Little Bee Books, 2018),  Executed beautifully in thick and rough black line on textured paper against a wash of the blue of water and ice, this sweet story of the little penguin who could is just right for youngsters just spreading their wings to find what they can do with their own individual abilities.

Pair this one with Karma Wilson's and Jane Chapman's (creators of the beloved Bear and Friends: Bear Snores On; Bear Wants More; Bear's New Friend (The Bear Books)) own story of a small penguin reluctant to take the plunge, Don't Be Afraid, Little Pip, (see review here).