Penguin and Pinecone: A Friendship Story (Penguin)

Readers familiar with Frank Asch's Happy Birthday, Moon may think they are in for a similar story: a bighearted animal bonds with an inanimate object and endearingly projects a host of feelings onto it. But in Yoon's story, the object--a pinecone--actually does have a personality. It shivers and sneezes in the cold and enjoys playing with Penguin. But, as Penguin's grandfather tells him, a pinecone "can't grow big and strong on the ice," so Penguin makes a difficult journey to bring his friend to the nearest forest; his labors are rewarded when he returns to the forest years later and finds that Pinecone is now a towering tree--still wearing the scarf that Penguin knit for him. "Penguin and Pinecone may have been far apart," writes Yoon, "but they always stayed in each other's hearts." Yoon's minimalist digital artwork, set mostly along a single plane, feels bracingly wintry with its cool, saturated palette, scratchboard textures, and thick black outlining. Most important, it provides a suitable stage for Penguin to be his kind and generous self. Ages 3-6. Agent: Jamie Weiss Chilton, Andrea Brown Literary Agency. (Oct.)

PreS-Gr 2--When a curious penguin stumbles upon a pinecone, he doesn't quite know what it is. It doesn't seem to be a snowball, or an egg, or anything to eat, but it does seem to be very cold. Penguin knits it a scarf and thus begins a beautiful friendship. The cartoon illustrations are done with thick rounded lines, bright colors, and plenty of white space to give this story warmth and personality. Pinecone, overall a fairly quiet friend, visibly shivers, says "brrrr," and even starts sneezing. When Penguin's grandpa advocates taking him to the faraway forest where he can thrive, Penguin puts his own loneliness aside for his friend's well being. Though they can't live in the same place, the two remain close always. The spare text and clean illustrations, done in a nice variety of spot art and single and double pages, work well for sharing with a group while the tale provides great opportunities for talking one-on-one. A lovely story of a caring and unselfish friendship.--Julie Roach, Cambridge Public Library, MA

"Yoon's story of an unlikely interspecies friendship is both funny and sweet . . . let's hope that, as the Antarctic Ambassador of Friendship, Penguin, too, shall return in more adventures." - Horn Book Magazine on PENGUIN ON VACATION

"Readers will respond to this warm tale of finding love." - Kirkus Reviews on PENGUIN IN LOVE