The Penguin and the Pea [Hardcover]

Janet Perlman (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2004 | Age Level: 3 and up

Sad and lonely, the Penguin Prince longs to find the perfect penguin princess to be his wife. Then one stormy night, a wet and bedraggled penguin arrives at the castle claiming to be a princess. The prince falls deeply in love with the beautiful and mysterious stranger. But is she really a princess? In this sparkling and whimsical retelling of The Princess and the Pea, there's only one sure way to find out.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Perlman’s animation-style illustrations, drawn by hand in ink, then computer-coloured, create a vibrant cartoon kingdom of penguin characters that are expressive and likeable. Her first fairy tale picture book, Cinderella Penguin, presented more opportunity for bird-related puns and props (such as the “glass flipper”), but this retelling is still loads of fun with its avian spin on a classic story and its “flappily ever after” ending.

Perlman’s visual details inject plenty of additional humor.

About the Author

Janet Perlman lives in Montreal, and is a director of award-winning animated films. She has written and illustrated several children's books, including "Cinderella Penguin", which is based on one of her films which was nominated for an Oscar?.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Kids Can Press (September 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1550748327
• ISBN-13: 978-1550748321
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 9.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,712,479 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Penguin Princess, September 24, 2004

By 

Heidi Anne Heiner (SurLaLune Fairy Tales.com) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Penguin and the Pea (Hardcover)

Penguins are Janet Perlman's favorite animals. She has previously reinterpreted two other fairy tales with penguins, "Cinderella Penguin, Or, the Little Glass Flipper" and "The Emperor Penguin's New Clothes." In her most recent book, she gives the classic "Princess on the Pea" a new penguin spin.

While Perlman overall stays true to Hans Christian Andersen's tale, she adds some modern twists including an extra night in which the princess sleeps horribly on what mattress covering a cabbage. On the second night she gets the pea and excessive bedding to contend with. While the princess is uncomfortable and detects the pea, her excessive bruising comes from falling out of the high bed.

Modern sensibilities will appreciate that in this version the prince falls in love with the princess while playing games, singing, and dancing, not necessarily because she is a true princess. While the penguins are somewhat awkward in the story, they help this version of the classic tale cross ethnic borders and provide whimsical touches to a familiar story.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Penguin Twist on a classic., April 4, 2006

By 

J. Marchese (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Penguin and the Pea (Hardcover)

This is a retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's The Princess of the Pea except with penguins. It's a good story with cute illustrations, but there isn't anything about this book that makes it special or particularly penguin-y. That being said, my preschool-aged daughters love this story and I like that the prince and princess fall in love not because of their royal heritage, but because they spent time together and fell in love. I also love that there are some bigger words thrown in for vocabulary building.