A Penguin Story [Hardcover]

Antoinette Portis (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

Edna the penguin only knows the three colors that surround her: white ice, black night, and blue sea. She is convinced there is something more out there. So she sets out on a quest—a quest for color. When she finally finds what she's been looking for, it's everything she hoped for and more. But that doesn't mean she will ever stop looking.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. PreSchool-Grade 2—Like the imaginative heroes of Portis's Not a Box (2007) and Not a Stick (2008, both HarperCollins), Edna yearns for something different. Though her fellow penguins are content to play and eat in their world of white snow, black night, and blue sea, she seeks something else. She finds it—a giant, bright orange research station, inhabited by orange-coated researchers. When she takes the other penguins there, they are suitably impressed, and one of the researchers even gives her a colorful glove. As the others go back to their normal lives, Edna stands atop an iceberg, wearing the orange glove like a hat, wondering "What else could there be?" This gentle tribute to dreamers crackles with quiet humor, and the art's limited palette both parallels the plot and lends the book a classic feel. Portis's ability to convey emotion and character through the slightest change in Edna's beady eyes and flippers is extraordinary, and the interplay of the text and pictures nears perfection. A delightful story, delightfully told.—Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Carroll County Public Library, MD
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From Booklist

Edna the penguin knows three colors—the black of night, the white in snow and ice, and the blue of the ocean that goes on forever. She knows there must be more, so Edna sets off on a quest to find it. She discovers a camp of Antarctic scientists that is a vision of bright orange (tents, plane, parkas, and so on). The story closes with Edna wearing a large glove left by the scientists as a headpiece and wondering, “What else could there be?” The double-page spread shows a small green boat approaching in the distance. Beautifully designed pages are filled with bold geometric shapes depicting the Antarctic landscapes and the few inhabitants. Uncluttered, stylized illustrations featuring a palate limited to the colors mentioned in the story perfectly catch the droll humor of the simple text. This is sure to provoke many chuckles. Pair with one of the many other titles about penguins, such as Jean-Luc Fromental’s 365 Penguins (2006). Preschool-Grade 2. --Randall Enos

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins (December 23, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061456888
• ISBN-13: 978-0061456886
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 10.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #81,813 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pure lines and intentions, December 26, 2008

By 

E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Penguin Story (Hardcover)

Some of the picture books I read make me wish I were a better reviewer. I know my history of the art form. I know what makes one book a stronger better read than another. I can sense when a book will feel right to an adult and to a child. But I am bested by the best sometimes. A Penguin Story comes from Antoinette Portis, a woman who has figured out how to do something extraordinarily difficult: combine good design with pitch-perfect storytelling. Not a Box, her debut, was no fluke. Switching gears away from the imaginative simplicity of her earlier work, Portis retains her sense of bold lines and simple storytelling to tell the tale of a penguin in search of color.

Edna is not a discontented penguin, but something has occurred to her. There is the white snow by day, the black sky at night, and the blue sea and sky. Yet surely, surely there are other colors out there, right? Determined, Edna goes to look for something new. She searches, and she searches, and then one day she finds it. Orange. In delight she invites the other penguins to see as well and they discover the orange to be that of a tent set up by some human researchers. As they leave, the humans give Edna an orange glove, leaving her to wonder whether or not there might be more colors out there unexplored. A green ship in the distance behind her, suggests at future discoveries.

I have a couple tried and true topics which can always be counted upon to inspire a good rant. One of my favorites involves well-designed picture books. Here's a fun activity: Walk into a museum's gift shop or a high-end children's toy store. Now locate the books in that store and tell me what you see. Before your eyes you are going to be treated to a host of titles that pleased adult after adult through every step of their production and completion, and please not a single child once they've entered the public sphere. I think of books like David Pelletier's Caldecott Honor winning The Graphic Alphabet which garnered accolades from grown-ups and soft unbroken snores from tots. And anytime an album cover artist breeds and decides to make some kind of new abecedarian wonder, you can bet it'll be the cream of the hipster parenting set. My point is that this does not always have to be the case. One Red Dot by David A. Carter, for example, was a wonderful mix of design brilliance and kid-friendly fare. Or Laura Ljungkvist's Follow the Line might be another example. Portis has discovered this balance, and part of what makes her books so brilliant are their pairing of pure lines and fine storytelling.

As with her Not a Box, Portis is a fan of a thick black line. Her penguins are not expressionless, but they are simplified. They are almost the merest idea of what a penguin consists of. A bullet shaped body. One half black, one half white. A triangle for a beak. Voila! Instant penguin. Yet the black of their backs is often speckled in white. The sea and the sky may sit fixed and blue and pure, but not our petite heroes. And once you get a feel for the blue dotted ice and clouds, you begin to notice the tiny details not immediately apparent in this seemingly simple book. When Edna leaves some of her friends doing acrobatics on an ice flow, the next shot shows them as distant black dots in the distance as Edna continues her search. Much of the book relies on what Edna misses and the reader sees. She does not see the orange plane that flies behind her head, or the deep green ship near the end of the book. Kids will, however, and they'll get a small thrill in the process.

On top of beautifully designed creatures and hidden details, there are also the colors. It is necessary to the story that Edna find a new color, so it would make sense to find something across the color chart from her already familiar blue. That color, logically, should be orange, and whatta orange! That single picture of Edna drawn entirely in orange, sheer waves of it breaking off her skin, expresses better than anything else the newness of the discovery. It also happens to be coupled perfectly with the next image, a tiny Edna hugging the massive orange tent, her little body leaning into it like it's a long lost friend. So there you have it. All at once an intelligent use of color to support the story is paired with small touching details that buoy it along. Add in endpapers that are orange in the front and green in the back and you've a lovely little surprise on your hands. Seemingly simple, surprisingly well thought out.

Once Harper Collins stops releasing Antoinette Portis books at the end of each given year and starts releasing her during sunnier months, she will find her following. Until that happy day arrives, however, she will have to remain our little secret. For anyone who enjoyed Not a Box or Not a Stick but hungered for a little more story, A Penguin Story delivers that same sweet sensibility with a familiar design. Just the right blend of child and adult friendliness guarantees this book a wide, loving audience. Penguin-related perfection.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Toddler approved!, March 19, 2009

By 

E. T. Truax "Betsy" (New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Penguin Story (Hardcover)

My daughter is almost 2 and has not put this book down since we borrowed it from the library! "Read Penguin!" she says, over and over. She'll also look at it by herself because it's so simply and beautifully done and she can name all the colors and objects in the book (White! Black! Blue! Fish! Penguins! Orange! People! Airplane! Green!) Each time she's delighted to giggles by Edna wearing the orange glove as a hat at the end. Bravo.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a perfect story, November 21, 2009

By 

cj - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Penguin Story (Hardcover)

I read this book in a local bookstore and was totally won over by the story. I wasn't sure how it would work with kids but when I bought it for my 3 year old niece she simply LOVED it. Perfect on so many levels.