Up and Down (The Boy #4)

K-Gr 2--Once upon a time, in a book called Lost and Found (Philomel, 2006), a penguin appeared at a small boy's doorstep. Since that adventure, in which the two traveled to the South Pole in a rowboat, the boy has crash-landed his plane on the moon and rocketed into space to catch a star. In this installment, the fearless, practical, and sympathetic child--drawn as a circle (head), square (striped shirt), and two lines (legs)--is back with his penguin friend. They play Telephone, Parcheesi, and tuba-guitar duets--until the penguin decides that he must learn to fly. "He did own wings after all, although they didn't seem to work very well. But that didn't stop the penguin trying." Quirky watercolor illustrations enrich the plot with examples--e.g., increasingly large balloons tied around the bird's middle, or the penguin leaping from a desk chair mounted atop a dresser while the boy sets out a pillow for a landing pad. A chance sighting of a circus help-wanted poster takes the penguin off on his own and both friends must follow exciting, suspenseful, and wistful paths back to one another. Jeffers has an endearing, deceptively simple style that will warm the hearts of children and adults. An expert draughtsman and a gifted colorist, he creates artwork that is as masterful as it is eccentric. (Devoted readers will be delighted to find pictorial references to his earlier books.) His peculiar plots combine with a saccharine-free sensitivity to the nuances of friendship, making this book just plain special.--Susan Weitz, formerly at Spencer-Van Etten School District, Spencer, NY