365 Penguins

365 PENGUINS
By Jean-Luc Fromental and Joelle Jolivet
Abrams, 2006

Category: Picture Book

This vibrant, oversized Boston Globe-Horn Book Award honoree caught the eye of my nearly-nine-year-old son the moment it came home from the library.

“Penguins!” he shouted, and he grabbed the book from my stack and headed for the couch.

Thirty minutes and four readings later he informed me that 365 PENGUINS should have won the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award outright. Hands down. No questions. When I suggested he consider reading the other books in the category before deciding for sure, he told me that wouldn’t be necessary. “I already know this one is the best.” Ah, the blind passion of youth. The boy has written the following brief review … enjoy!

“The best part about 365 PENGUINS is the illustrations. The words are just telling a single story, but the pictures have about five stories. There are some jokes in the words but not as many as in the illustrations. I’ve also never seen such a design for penguins. The illustrations make you want to read 365 PENGUINS a ton of times.”

If you hadn’t guessed, this kid is an artist. 365 PENGUINS inspired pages and pages of penguins in his journal. Here’s a peek …