Little Penguin's Tale

My son is 2 years old and for some reason, he LOVES this book! We have to read it to him every night, or he throws a fit. Something about the wacky pictures of the looney birds. Kids are just drawn to it. We accidentally left the book on the plane and I had to order another one right away. Actually, he also loves the two other books we have by this author. They are his three favorite books, and I'm perplexed as to why (as he has about a thousand other books). Who knows- but I recommend any book by this author as they seem to cast a spell over toddlers and make them quiet and intrigued.

Audrey Wood is such a talented writer for young children, that this story seems effortless. Let's face it! In this day and age you simply cannot have too many stories about the dangers of young children wandering off by themselve. I don't mind at all that she borrowed Pinnochio's sea adventure plot a bit. My nerty little six year old grand-daughter had me read it three times and told me (most seriously) that little girls get kidnapped and that terrible (unspecified) things can happen and they never get to see their mommy and daddy and opa (that's me) again. Author Wood never flagged on the interest level and didn't make it too scary. A grownup should be available to make sure the serious lesson is understood. A real fun book, but not empty headed fun!

The penguin Nanny is charged with watching 7 little penguins on an outing, but one of them has better things to do than hang out with her and eat his fruit basket. Instead, he wanders off for various adventures of tummy sledding, goony bird dancing, boating, wild partying and finally, napping on the edge of the ice. As he does each of these, the Nanny warns the six others that little penguins can get hurt doing those things- but he doesn't until the very end when he gets eaten. End of story. Oh my. The look on my son's face was even more upsetting than the tears coming out of the six little penguins eyes when they realised the whale had EATEN the adventurous little penguin! The nanny quickly backtracks and tells the six obedient penguins that the little penguin could indeed be eaten, but he didn't- he just came home instead. My children like the illustrations, which appear to be pastel on rough paper. The colors are intense, the penguins attractive and the goony birds have big beautiful eyes. There's a lot going on at the party and they enjoy talking about the different animals at the party. It's funny to contemplate the fruit baskets the little penguins get for their outing and wonder why they all eat the same fruit at the same time. The children liked the food fight, even if I, the mom who would clean up, don't see the point.

This is a delightful story about a mischievious little penguin and his adventures. My students loved this story and so did I.