Synopsis: This beautiful picture book is the story of a boy who discovers a penguin on his doorstep one morning and, assuming the penguin is lost, embarks on a quest to return him to his home. A long journey to the South Pole and a sad parting makes him realise the truth, that the penguin is not lost but lonely. This wonderful story about loneliness and friendship has won both the Nestle Children’ s Book Prize Gold prize and the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award

Review: Oliver Jeffers has used both language and art to provide space for the reader’s imagination to flourish. The characters are unnamed, the text succinct and matter of fact. The beautiful watercolour illustrations are uncluttered and restrained. The spare use of colour, the use of light and shadow, the vast backgrounds and the placing of the characters provide the sense of space which accentuates the loneliness of the boy and the penguin and, as the story continues, the companionship and growing interdependence between them. As well as being a great book to share with children, this book also needs space to be read and re-read by individuals, making their own interpretation of the characters’ emotions. It would be an excellent book to use in a guided reading session which allowed children time to re-read, think and share their own responses to the text. It would open up discussions about friendship and what it means, what friends offer and how we know how they are feeling. Oliver Jeffers skilfully conveys emotions through body language and minimal expression, and close attention to the pictures will help children explore this. Children might also want to explore the stories friends tell and tell the stories the boy might tell the penguin during the journey across the stormy sea. It would also be a valuable book to use for older readers who could think further about the choices made by Oliver Jeffers both in his story telling and illustrations.

2006-12-11