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Jump to navigationJump to searchLittle Penguin Learns to Swim by Dubravka Kolanovic and Eilidh Rose (view source)
Revision as of 12:06, 18 August 2020
, 12:06, 18 August 2020no edit summary
Stories with a message can, sometimes, seem a little old fashioned. But I have to say as a mother that they can be incredibly useful in teaching a lesson to a small child. This particular story is rather nice and deals with the difficult subject of trying something new for the first time. It could easily relate directly to a small child who is scared to go swimming, or the idea translates to any new endeavour that may crop up since we also see a gull attempting to fly, a seal learning to catch his own fish and a whale learning to jump out of the sea.
There's a nice progression to the story as we meet each friend in turn and see them first comment about their efforts to do something new, and then their success as they try. The language is positive, showing how each friend tries and initially fails, but then goes on to succeed after trying and trying again. Little Penguin is nervous, but in the end , he sees his friends having fun and so he gives it a go and is soon swimming about happily with them.
The illustrations make this a particularly attractive book. Little Penguin himself is small and plump and fluffy and terribly cute! His friends all have that sweet, fuzzy look about them too, and although the colours are quite muted tones they really give the feel of the cold, arctic scenery. Little Penguin is very endearing, and I rather liked seeing him waddling around from page to page, even after several re-reads!
This would be a lovely book to share with a nervous toddler, and even if you don't need to encourage any little ones to be brave it's a sweet bedtime story."
One of my favourite picture books about a penguin is [[Penguin by Polly Dunbar]] or you may also enjoy [[The Penguin Who Wanted To Find Out by Jill Tomlinson and Paul Howard]]. Little Penguin might also appreciate [[What I Think About When I Think About... Swimming by Eleanor Levenson and Katie O'Hagan]].
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