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.

Pas de Deux: Flora and Penguin by Mary Idle

Flora is far from her former dance partner, Flamingo, as she laces up her ice skates and ventures onto the blue-white Antarctic ice. Right away she notices a penguin who seems interested in her swooping strokes.

Soon the two begin to glide over the ice together, a skating session that quickly turns into a lovely ballet, as the impromptu partners mirror each other's moves in synchronized dance. Wing-in-hand, they twirl, leap, and spring in perfect rapport, blending almost into one.

But suddenly Penguin breaks away and dives into a breathing hole in the ice. Flora feels rejected and hurt, turning her back on her partner, just as Penguin slips up onto the ice and offers Flora a fish she has caught as a gift. Confused, Flora hurries to set the fish free in the ice hole, and now it is Penguin who feels miffed and rejected.

But the joy of their dance draws them together, in a grand finale of a four-page gatefold, as Flora and Penguin understand each other, their differences and their common love for ballet, as they end their dance with quite a lot of flare, in Molly Idle's sequel to her 2013 Caldecott Honor Book, Flora and the Flamingo (See my 2013 review here.)

In her second book, Flora and the Penguin (Chronicle Books, 2014), Idle takes a different tack: instead of playing up the contrast between the Flora's chubby, short-legged shape and Flamingo's long, elegant lines, the illustrator points up the similar body forms of Flora and Penguin as they dance, contrasted against their different views toward what to do with a fish. It's a funny but short-lived tiff, as the two return gladly to their improvised girl-and-penguin pas de deux. Idle chooses a cool blue palette, accented only with touches of yellow, beautifully suited to the polar setting. Again, Molly Idle's artistic skills turn a tour jete' into a tour de force,, with the added fun of flaps which extend the story, showing what is happening under the ice as well as above and with her multi-page grand finale, with the fish below the ice serving as corps de ballet.

Idle's latest has earned starred reviews from School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and Common Sense Media. As Booklist says, "Rings with the real emotion of friendship found, lost, and found again... a charmer."

Finding Autumn: Penguin and Pumpkin by Salina Yoon

IT WAS FALL AND VERY WHITE ON THE ICE, AS ALWAYS.

"I WONDER WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE OFF THE ICE?" MUSED PENGUIN.

"LET'S GO TO THE FARM AND FIND OUT!" SAID HIS BUDDY BOOTSY.

Penguin's baby brother Pumpkin clamors to go, too, but Penguin has to tell him he's still too little to travel so far.

Waving good-bye to his sad little sibling, Penguin and Bootsy hop the nearest northbound ice floe and finally arrive at the farm, where fall is in full swing. There are big pumpkins in the pumpkin patch and red, gold, and orange autumn leaves sailing through the air and covering the ground. It's gloriously colorful, but Penguin can't help thinking about poor little Pumpkin back home in the snow. Then he gets an idea.

Penguin and Bootsy pick the biggest pumpkin, carve it out to make a floating freighter, and load it up with a little pumpkin and and crate full of colored leaves. They even add a few autumn storybooks for good measure. Boarding a southbound floe, they tow their cargo back toward Penguin Land, where little Pumpkin is busy trying to imagine what Fall looks like. Is it perhaps in outer space? Are Penguin and Bootsy taking a spaceship to Planet Pumpkin? He can't wait to tell his big brother all about his own imaginative adventures.

The returned explorers are impressed at the little penguin's fantastic ideas.

"SPACE-TACULAR!" THEY SAY.

"BUT I WISH I GOT TO SEE WHAT FALL REALLY LOOKS LIKE," PUMPKIN SAID.

Penguin puts on his thinking cap. He's got a pumpkin and he's got a lot of autumn leaves. How can he re-create the farm in the fall for his little brother?

In the Penguin Queen Salina Yoon's latest South Pole story, Penguin and Pumpkin (Walker Books, 2014), Penguin uses his creativity to find a way to set his autumn leaves to blowing all over penguin country.

"FALL LOOKS LIKE... IT'S SNOWING LEAVES!"

Yoon's illustrative style, with her thick black outlines and rich autumnal colors are perfect for youngsters just learning about the seasons. Her characters, shown mostly in profile, are iconic cartoon penguins, with Penguin himself sporting an orange scarf, while Bootsy sticks to her pink hairbow and signature boots. making this unusual location for a fall story into a unique fall story for young readers. Kirkus Reviews says "Readers with a generous tolerance for quirkiness will find that this seasonal tale, that’s also a bit about little brothers, adventures and the endless diversity of pumpkins, hits the spot."

Salina Yoon's other Penguin books include Penguin and Pinecone, Penguin on Vacation, and Penguin in Love.

Lovebirds: Penguin in Love by Salina Yoon

ONE DAY PENGUIN WAS LOOKING FOR LOVE.

"WHAT'S THIS?"

INSTEAD, HE FOUND ... A MITTEN!

Even penguins know that where there is one mitten, there were once two. And he sets out to find the owner of the other mitten. After all, it's lonely on his ice floe, and he could use a penguin partner.

But unbeknownst to Penguin, there are a couple of Cupids at work in this story, a couple of knitting puffins busy bringing him together with his true love if he is faithful to the quest, following their trail of yarn that extends across the empty spaces of Antarctica. First, he runs into his knitting puffin friend, Bootsy, knitting nose cozies for sea lions.

Penguin is taken with idea of knitting a mate for the mystery mitten, but as he waddles on, knitting as he goes across the frozen seascape, he meet up with other creatures in need of a warm up.

"H-H-HELLO! A-A-ARE YOU KNITTING BILL COZIES? I D-D-DROPPED MINE!"

Several puffins are happy to take all the knitted goods Penguin can provide as bill cozies, and as he trudges on, he finds lots of chilly polar takers for snout cozies, but not the one he wants, the owner of the mate for his mitten. Will Penguin find the object of his soul mate search at the end of that mysterious trail of yarn, the one with the mate for his talisman mitten?

Well, of course, and there's a whale in a handknit sweater to take them off on the next adventure in Salina Yoon's latest, Penguin in Love (Walker, 2013).  Yoon is the princess of penguin stories, and this little search for true love makes heartwarming seasonal storytime fare.  Yoon's illustrations are quite whimsical (one might even say cute), and even her endpapers make the most of the graphic charms of knitting supplies in this appealing yarn for Valentine's Day.

Salina Yoon's other popular penguin tales are Penguin and Pinecone and Penguin on Vacation.

Heart-y Story: Baby Penguins Love Their Mama by Melissa Guion

Mama Penguin is pooped!

A flock of baby penguins to feed and teach is tiring!

Monday there are swimming lessons for the brood, and Tuesday it's time for sliding on their stomachs. Wednesday brings waddling lessons, and on Thursday, it's time for a tutorial on preening those ruffled feathers, not exactly the fledglings' favorite!

Friday brings fishing lessons, with lots of fun, but Saturday is squawking day, which would give any mom a headache!

ON SUNDAY, AFTER A LONG WEEK, MAMA TOOK A NAP!

While Mama dozes on the ice floe, what do her little ones do? They prepare a surprise, with streamers and hearty hearts which bespeak their appreciation for Mama!

Mama is proud and promises them (and herself) that they will soon be able to do everything big penguins can do.

"AND WHEN YOU CAN DO EVERYTHING I CAN DO, WHAT WILL I DO?" SAID MAMA.

The baby penguins proudly hold up the big, streamer-decked snow heart they have made for her.

"YOU WILL BE OUR MAMA!"THEY CHEER.

Penguins are popular in picture books these days, and Melissa Guion reprises her popular polar setting in the sequel to her piquant 2012 penguin flash mob story, Baby Penguins Everywhere! (see my review here) in her brand-new heart-y tale, Baby Penguins Love their Mama (Philomel, 2014). Guion makes the most of alliterative text, and her juxtaposition of the baby penguin's rainbow streamers and big blue heart against the black and white of their feathers and the snowy landscape are most pleasing to the eye. With a sympathetically humorous nod to mamas, sitters, and teachers everywhere, these stories make a perfect penguin pair for the holiday season.

Odd Bird Bash: Happy Birdday, Tacky! by Helen Lester and Lynn Munsinger

FOR WEEKS GOODLY, LOVELY, ANGEL, NEATLY, AND PERFECT HAD BEEN PLANNING TACKY'S BIRDDAY.

After all, as Nice Icy Land's only official Odd Bird, Tacky's hatchday has to be as unique as he is. There's the usual birthday card writing, present picking, and fancy wrapping, keeping all the prep under wraps, of course, because this birdday has to be a big surprise.

The Nice Icy Land plans are finally set and Tacky's perniciously persnickety penguin pals go through their list:

CARDS? (Check)

SONGS? (Check)

PRESENTS? (Check)

FISHY ICE CREAM? (Check)

CAKE? (Check)

SURPRISE ENTERTAINMENT? (Check)

The surprise entertainment surprises even Tacky.  It's the divine diva Tinklewebs the Dance Queen, all the way from Iglooslavia!

"I VANT TO PERFORM FOR YOU A DENZ PEEZ!"

But the surprise entertainment turns into a dance disaster, as Ms. Tinklewebs turns her ankle (or whatever penguins have):

"MINE WEBBY! MINE BEAUDIFOOL LEFT WEBBY IS INJURED! I SHALL NEVER DENZ AGAIN! MINE CAREER IS KAPUTED! she laments loudly.

"HOW IMPERFECT," Goodly looked at Angel.

"WHAT TO DO NOW?"

But it's that odd bird Tacky whose silly flapwaddle dance keeps his own birthday festivities in Helen Lester's latest Tacky the Penguin tale, Happy Birdday, Tacky! (Tacky the Penguin) (Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt, 2013). For super silliness on ice you can't beat Tacky, that odd bird set down amongst a group of super up-tight buddies, a groovy penguin whose job it seems is to keep things cool in Nice Icy Land.  Penguins are currently hot properties, quite popular in picture book land, but author Lester and illustrator Munsinger remain the queens of the ice!

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."

Don't Look Back! Nothing Ever Happens At the North Pole by Stan and Jan Berenstain



IT’S A BOOK!
A BOOK FOR ME!

I CANNOT WAIT.
TO START MY BOOK.
SOMETHING MIGHT HAPPEN.
ALL I HAVE TO DO IS LOOK!

SOMETHING HAPPENS
EVERYDAY.
WRITE IT DOWN
RIGHT AWAY!

When a little penguin finds a pristine journa addressed to him in his daily mail, he has to hurry into his scarf and earmuffs and hit the snowscape outside, looking for something interesting to record.

Making tracks across the snow cover, pencil at the ready, he looks for newsworthy events. He trudges up a steep slope, oblivious to the hungry white wolves closing in on him from the rear. What can he write about in this barren view?

A GIANT SNOWBALL
THAT WENT ROUND AND ROUND
AND SMASHED SOME BADDIES
INTO THE GROUND!

But the penguin rejects his snowball, obviously made of inferior snow, and tosses it behind him without a backward look, where, in a scene reminiscent of The Bears' Christmas, it snowballs back down the slope carrying the baddie wolves to a catastrophic crash below.

This device is repeated as the penguin presses forward, still looking for something memorable, trudging over lumpy, sleeping polar bears, who are aroused and angry in his wake.. He hops across ice floes, oblivious to the fact that one of his stepping stones is the head of a testy (and well-tusked) walrus, who chomps down on a floe just as the penquin leaps to land. Finding nothing worth reporting, our little journalist goes under the sea, where he mistakes a waiting whale’s eye for one of the ubiquitous snails on rocks, and surfaces just in time to miss being swallowed whole, still disgusted with his unimpressive environment.

I MUST WRITE SOMETHING!
IT’S ALMOST NIGHT!
THERE’S JUST ONE THING
FOR ME TO WRITE.

IT’S THE ONLY THING
I CAN SAY–
NOTHING HAPPENED
HERE TODAY!

It’s an object lesson in dramatic irony for early readers in Michael and Jan Berenstain’s Nothing Ever Happens at the South Pole (Scholastic, 2012), as the would-be writer, oblivious to everything but what is right in front of his nose, slogs on in search of hot news. The back story of this familiar-sounding but newly published Stan and Jan Berenstain effort is that the manuscript for this book was to be the duo’s second-ever book, but was pushed back by the roaring success of their initial Berenstain Bear title and waited in the archive of the Berenstain basement until, after Stan’s death, Jan and son Mike resurrected and re-worked the original. Fans of the Berenstain Bears will find the typical quatrains less than lyrical but somehow rhythmically reassuring, a quality which made their classic I-Can-Read books so appealing to emergent readers. There’s a rewarding chuckle on each page read as the little penguin returns in disgust to his igloo while all heck breaks out in his wake, making this snowy blast from the past deserving of a warm snow season story hour.

This book has great possibilities as an introduction to journalling for primary students. And for a double dose of dramatic irony, pair this one with the classic Caldecott-winning Ellen Raskin’s Nothing Ever Happens on My Block for a storytime illustrating a similar theme and a similarly oblivious narrator with a very different illustrative style, a literary lesson along with the laughs.

Out of a Hat: Baby Penguins Everywhere! by Melissa Guiion

ONCE THERE WAS A PENGUIN.

SHE WAS VERY LONELY.

ONE DAY, SHE SAW SOMETHING FLOATING IN THE WATER...

A HAT.

When that lone penguin on a single ice floe picks up that floating top hat, little does she know that her lonely days are over. An irresistible baby penguin pops out and puts its tiny arms up for her to hold it, and the penguin’s (and the reader’s) heart melts. But then things begin to change fast....

One after another, baby penguins continue to emerge from that magic hat, and soon the penguin is surrounded by a flock of babies, all romping and reaching out to her. She clearly loves playing with them, as they skip with a rope of multicolored ribbons and juggle and toss their little colored balls back and forth. It’s great for the new adoptive mommy, but

SHE WAS VERY, VERY BUSY.

And getting tired, too! She realizes that she is beginning to dream of a few quiet moments to herself, maybe on her own ice floe for a change!

Instant motherhood (which is the way it always seems, actually) can be a matter of adaptation and conditioning, even when the babies are as unbelievably appealing as Melissa Guion’s in her timely snow-filled tale, Baby Penguins Everywhere! (Philomel Books, 2012). Guion’s debut picture book has enormous appeal, with its simple but telling text and elegantly simply and engagingly lovable subjects. A perfect snowy winter tale for January.

Perfect Pals? Fluff and Billy by Nicola Killen

"I'm swimming!" said Fluff.
"I'm swimming!" said Billy.

I'm splashing!" said Fluff.
I'm splashing!" said Billy.

Fluff and Billy seem to be the perfect penguin pals. After all, they like to do all the same things, right?

Well, all this me too-ism is fine with the older Fluff--for a while. But soon he begins to weary of the constant echo and his dutiful doppelganger shadowing every move he makes. Finally Fluff vents his frustration and lets Billy have it with a face full of snow right in the beak!

I'M not talking to YOU!" said Billy.

It's a standoff, with the two young penguins turning their backs on each other and on their friendship.

Then Fluff spots a small tear in Billy's eyes and his anger begins to melt like the remains of the snowball at Billy's feet. What can he do to warm up their friendship again?

Nicola Killen's short and sweet tale of friendship's warm and cool moments is well-told in her Fluff and Billy (Sterling, 2012), and youngsters will intuit the premise that true friendship can weather a bit of cooling off, and will giggle along with Billy as Fluff finds a way to thaw the pals' pique.

Water's Fine! Don't Be Afraid, Little Pip by Karma Wilson

Little Pip looked out at the large ocean. Today was the day all young penguins were learning how to swim.

Pip sighed. The ocean looked awfully dark and deep.

A penguin who is afraid of the water? It seems impossible, but Little Pip is a penguin chick who refuses to get in the swim with the other eager little youngsters. Pip has a perfectly logical argument: she has wings, she has feathers, she is bird. Ipso facto, she can fly!

And that's what she sets out to do. A snowy petrel's takeoff instructions result in a nosedive into the sand, but then a giant albatross wisely offers advice about how to get Pip off the ground.

"Stand on the ledge by the edge of the sea.
Let your feathers set you free.
Lift your wings and spread them wide.
Jump into the breeze and away you'll glide."

Of course, as the albatross probably knew, Little Pip soars, not into the sky, but into the sea, where she learns that those wings can help her soar under the sea as well.

Pip held her breath.

Pip kicked.

Pip flapped. Pip swam!

Deep under the water and into the dark black sea went Pip. Whooosh! Whiiiiish! Wheeeeee!!

She swooped past the huge octopus, beautiful coral reefs and giant sea plants. She saw schools of fish as bright as a rainbow in the sky.

"Do you see me? I'm flying after all! Swimming is flying!"

Fear of new experiences is universal among young children, and like Pip, they can learn that facing the unknown by "doing what comes naturally" often leads to glorious new adventures. Karma Wilson's and Jane Chapman's latest collaboration, Don't Be Afraid, Little Pip(Simon & Schuster, 2009) is a lovely and welcome additon to their fine body of work, which, in addition to their first in this series, Where Is Home, Little Pip? (reviewed here), includes the many popular titles in their noted Bear Snores On books.