Synopsis: Ben opens a present to find a penguin. At first, he is glad for his new friend but find that the gormless looking penguin doesn't do anything or say anything, no matter what Ben does with it. Ben gets fed up and tries to feed the penguin to a passing lion, which turns on Ben instead, and the penguin strikes back. After his rescue, Ben discovers that his true friend, the penguin, has not missed any of their shared time together.

Review: In simple but elegant illustrations, Polly Dunbar captures both the humour of the situation and anguish of a lonely child who desperately wants a toy animal to be a living friend. She cleverly picks up on the frustration children find in trying to force a response from someone who is either ignoring them or not doing what they want them to do. Toward the end of the book, the reader is comforted to discover that the time and effort the child has put into the relationship has not been wasted.

Dunbar 's climax is a visual one in which she fills a speech bubble with delightful images, revealing that delight can be shared through more than words. This image makes the reader cast their memory back over the previous activities in the book, revealing the importance of remembering shared experiences in friendship. These subtle complexities will delight adult readers as well as children. And adults may laugh at a reverse reading of the situation, imagining the penguin to be a very stubborn child.

 The short DVD animation follows the storyline closely, removing the visual text but adding Emilia Fox's engaging, slightly twee narration (which figures; Fox played Georgiana Darcy in the BBC film adaptation of 'Pride & Prejudice'.) Readers are recommended to read the book first, to form their own impressions, then watch the DVD to see the characters spring delightfully to life. Viewers may be struck by the subtle difference from the book at the end of the video, when the narrator is forced earlier to add a word of text ('everything') which the book draws out longer as a silent visual experience, forcing readers to fill in the gap with their imaginations in a way that the video doesn't achieve.

BOOKTRUST EARLY YEARS AWARDS

PRE-SCHOOL AWARD WINNER 2007

RED HOUSE YOUNGER CHILDREN CATEGORY WINNER 2008

2007-08-29