I Am Pangoo the Penguin

It is only fitting that this tale of a penguin temporarily forgotten for newer toys is published by Philomel Books; it is, after all, "a diviion of PENGUIN Young Readers Group. What is not OK, and is the fault of Penguin (the publisher, not the toy) is the unflinchingly overstated blurb on the inside flap: "With hints of classics such as "The Venveteen Rabbit" and "Are You My Mother," Satomi Ichikawa brings readers an adorable new character for children to love,,," (I'm not sure what a hint of a classic is, but I wouldn't trot out that word so quickly, even if it meant selling a few more books. It's a very good story--even an excllent one--with a cute penguin, important themes, and an "awwww" inspiring conclusion. However, the book stands on its own without the publisher's hype; it doesn't deserve the unfair comparison to books generally regarded as classic. Moreover, the themes have been covered in books and films many times, from "Pinocchio" to (especially) "Toy Story" and "Corduroy," and so the publisher's hyperbole seems especially gratuitous.} Having got that out of my system, let's get to the book. IT's really very good, beginning with the ambiguous introduction of the two main characters, Pangoo and Danny, the small boy who has loved him since birth. At first reading, it's not clear who is narrating the story. If you mistakenly assume, as I did, that it's Danny, then you'll experience a wonderful Hitchcokian moment on page eight, where it's clear that Pangoo the stuffed penguin toy is telling us the story of Danny's birthday...and what happened after. It's also on this page that the penguin becomes unstuffed; that is, he begins to look and act like a real (albeit tiny) penguin, instead of the soft toy that Danny adores. As in "Toy Story," Danny is caught up in his new birthday toys, and leaves Pangoo alone and feeling unwanted. The now-fullly animated penguin decides he should leave, and he chooses a place that he and Danny frequented back in the good old days: The Central Park Children's Zoo, specifically, the penguin enclosure! However, under questionning by the zoo penguins, he discovers that he's out of his element. Pangoo doesn't like fish, doesn't swim, and doesn't like the cold. Ichikawa's evocative pictures of Central Park and the penguis swimming in the blue-green aquarium are exquisite. She even forehadows the penguin's aquarium trip with a tree outside Danny's window that has similar blue-green shades. Kids will love watching the persistent penguin walking all by himself to Central Park, seeing the swimming penguins in watery flight, and Pangoo's conversations with the stone animals at the base of the Central Park clock tower. Fortunately, Pangoo's brief thought that "nobody loves me" is soon contradicted by the arrival of Danny and his Grandmother" "Oh, Pangoo, I looked everywhere for you. Grandma thought you would come here and she was right. I am so glad I have found you. I love you, Pangoo. Don't ever go away!"