We recently reviewed "Polar Bear Island" by Lindsay Bonilla and Cinta Villalobos which also featured Penguins moving into the aforementioned idyllic snowy destination.
Now in "Meet the Penguins" by Mike Brownlow we once again find out that "different isn't always bad" - and the core message, though very similar to Polar Bear Island, is delivered in a slightly different way.
So let's meet those penguins! They really want to make some new friends. But does anyone want to play?
At first, the answer is a firm "NO!" as all the animals show a marked reluctance to play with these new outsiders from a faraway land. They act differently, they look distinctly different, they even dress different.
But it takes one character to make the first inroads into friendship with the new penguin arrivals - and they soon discover just how wonderful they really are!
We can't fault the theme of this book, as with Polar Bear Island, it teaches kids a little more tolerance, understanding and shows them that making friends and being friendly might just change the way everyone else looks at the world too.
Sum this book up in a sentence: Get your parents and guardians to read this one with you, and hopefully the message of acceptance and friendship can be shared far and wide.
"Meet the Penguins" by Mike Brownlow is out on 4th April 2019, published by OUP / Oxford Children's Books (kindly supplied for review).