makeupu's Full Review: Marcus Pfister - Penguin Pete
My kids just LOVE penguins! They also like Rainbow Fish - you know the story about the beautiful fish that didn't want to share his glittering scales.
Penguin Pete is by the same author of Rainbow Fish, Marcus Pfister. This book was first published in 1987 by North - South Books.
What attracted me at first to this book was the beautiful watercolor drawings of Penguin Pete and his cute little penguin friends, but the story leaves much to be desired.
Summary: Pete the Penguin has a good time playing on land with his fellow birds and learning how to swim in the sea.
The story begins with a colony of Penguins living in the Antarctic- the youngest and smallest penguin called Pete. He was so small all the other penguins called him Pint-Sized Pete. His mom reassured him that he, too, would be as big as all the other penguins some day & be able to swim in the sea like the rest of them.
But Pete dreamed of the day that he could swim. He used to watch all of the other Penguins waddle about on the land and laugh at their funny walk. He skated around the ice, slipping and sliding everywhere, usually ending with a big thump on his bottom! He wanted to show the other penguins he could be graceful on the land, but that didn't work either.
One day, Pete meets a cute little bird by the name of Steve. Pete felt very big among the flock of little yellow birds that just landed on his patch of ice. But they had never seen a bird like Pete before, especially one that couldn't fly. Steve tried to give Pete flying lessons, but all of his flight lessons ended in crash landings. He loved his new friend anyway, but the day soon came when Steve and his friends had to leave. Pete cried big penguin tears as they said goodbye. Steve promised he'd be back next year. Steve was sad & his mom comforted him once again - only this time he was going to get his first swimming lesson in the sea - yeah!
Pete was really scared to take his first dive into the water head first, so his first "dive" consisted of him climbing down the icy ledges backward into the sea! But the next day proved to be even better as he took his first strokes in the water. At first he was rather clumsy but in no time, he was doing the backstroke and playing penguin games (which he always lost, but he was a good loser).
How he loved the cold, mysterious sea and all the fish and seaweed. He waddled back to his mom & fell fast asleep in her lap, by the light of the moon, too tired to tell her of all his adventures, but tomorrow was another day full of diving surprises!...... THE END!
HUH? Did I miss something here? What adventures? This book totally leaves you hanging! I kept waiting for something to happen, something my kids could learn,or remember - but nothing! What a disappointment! Although my kids don't quite get it and this is not one of their favorite books, they still love looking at all the pictures of the penguins. The only trouble they had was distinguishing Penguin Pete from all of the other penguins: they all look exactly alike! I feel the story and artwork should go hand in hand and this time the story fails miserably. It could have been a lot better, in my opinion. But if your a fan of Marcus Pfisters artwork, (or a watercolorist, yourself) by all means, check this one out - the penguins are adorable, cute and very colorful - just don't expect much from the story!
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.