My Penguin Osbert in Love by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel, H. B. Lewis (Illustrator)

From the Publisher

At a South Pole gala, the penguin of Osbert's dreams waddles into his life in a charming return of the winning pair from MY PENGUIN OSBERT.


Joe couldn't be more surprised to fi nd his friend Osbert knocking at his front door — AWOL from the zoo — with an invitation to a South Pole extravaganza under his wing. Since penguins can't fly, and Joe has a helicopter from Santa, the boy is soon piloting a bunch of penguins on a long journey south. But when Osbert ignores the southern lights and only has eyes for a penguin named Aurora, Joe starts to worry. Will he ever get back in time for his own family's midwinter bash?

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 2

Joe and his endearing pet, introduced in My Penguin Osbert (Candlewick, 2004), take a trip to the South Pole to attend a party to celebrate a display of the southern lights. Joe packs Osbert and his 20+ friends into the helicopter he received from Santa ("I had a little trouble getting everybody into their seat belts, but we managed to take off before noon"). The story bogs down with too many disparate elements, including a couple of superfluous landings and Joe and the penguins twice standing in line to use a restroom, rather than focusing on Osbert falling in love with Aurora Australis. There are some touches of humor: a comment that Joe is not sure that the penguins he returns with were the same ones he brought, but the first book had more humor and child appeal. The colorful and softly muted illustrations created using watercolor, pastel, and digital art depict a fluidly expressive Joe and the personable penguins sneaking upstairs, checking out a globe, landing at the South Pole, one penguin wearing earphones and holding guiding lights, and the magnificence of the southern lights.-Kirsten Cutler, Sonoma County Library, CA

Kirkus Reviews

The child-and-penguin duo introduced in the fresh and funny My Penguin Osbert (2004) returns for a pallid new adventure. When Osbert brings all his new penguin friends from the zoo to the unnamed narrator's house, it's to conscript him into taking them to a South Pole viewing of the Southern lights-at which Osbert loses his heart to the lovely Aurora Australis, who invited them. Kimmel and Lewis employ the same combination of understated text against sweetly ironic watercolor-and-pastel illustrations, but even though this story goes all the way to Antarctica and back, it hasn't the emotional or humorous legs of its predecessor-a shame. (Picture book. 6-9)

Product Details