Who said penguins can't fly! (Penguin Small - Mick Inkpen)

Member Name: kingfisher111

Product:	Penguin Small - Mick Inkpen
Date:	12/05/09 (195 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great story and illustrations

Disadvantages: none!

I love everything to do with penguins so I guess that it's not altogether surprising that every time I see a children's book about penguins I have to buy it for my daughters. This is how we came about having Penguin Small in our collections, which is a delightful story book by Mick Inkpen. It's also a story which might go some way towards explaining why there are no penguins at the North Pole!

It's quite a complicated little story though that takes our Penguin Small on a very long journey all the way from the North to the South Pole. Oh yes - there were once penguins at the North Pole (at least according to this book) but they were bullied by the polar bears so they decided that they had to leave!

The story actually starts very sadly when all of the penguins leave the North Pole - bar one! That is Penguin Small and because he is terrified of water he stays behind! He soon makes friends with a snowman who he teaches to speak but then after another confrontation with the polar bears they find themselves cast adrift as the ice they are standing on breaks off and they float away. That is the start of their long journey which takes them first of all to a wonderful tropical island. Now at this point you would be thinking that the snowman might of melted but you have to take account of the fact that he is made from North Pole snow and apparently that never melts.

The island is full of wonderful creatures which they make up names for such as junglybirds, hootercrabs and neverwozanoceroses! (My daughters absolutely love these wonderful made up names!) On the island though, Penguin Small says goodbye to his snowman friend and floats away in his friend's hat to go and find the other penguins. His adventure then takes him on to meet a big blue whale who helps him on his way until eventually he arrives at the South Pole and is reunited with the rest of the penguins - hurrah for a happy ending!

This is a great story which takes in lots of different ideas. It's definitely worth reading more than once as there is rather a lot for a child to take in. There are lots of very nice angles within the story though. First of all there is the lovely friendship between the snowman and the penguin. We like the way that Penguin Small teaches words to his new friends, but we also like the way that he rubs out the snowman's mouth if he does not want him to speak!

There is also the friendship that Penguin Small strikes up with the whale who he thinks at first is a large barren island. There is also a theme running through the story based on the fact that penguins can't fly. However, towards the end you will need to suspend your disbelief as this one does! He soars, glides, hovers and dives until eventually he arrives at his destination! Well, I guess it's a story so anything can happen!

The language in this book is excellent for small children. It's very descriptive and rich and, as I said earlier, there are some wonderful made up words! Also, the illustrations are really good too. They really help to tell the story and I like the way there is such a deep contrast between the cold starkness of either pole with the vibrant richness of the tropical island. There is also a bonus with many of the illustrated pages which I am sure a lot of children will love - they are giant fold out pages! There is a lovely fold out showing much more of the tropical island and also another fold out to increase the page size by four to show just how big the whale is. these are just two examples but there are three or four others that the children will love! They do need to be very careful folding these pages in and out though as I do not think it will take much to cause them to tear!

Overall this is a fabulous book to share with young children. It has a good storyline, appealing characters and wonderful illustrations. I feel sure that most children will absolutely love it! You will however, have to put up with just a little factual distortion though!

At the moment the paperback is available on Amazon for £5.49.

Summary: A great book for sharing with small children