John Burns (3) (1945–)

Book Title: "The Many Adventures of Pengey Penguin"
Author: John Burns
Published By: San Francisco Story Works
Age Recommended: 5 +
Reviewed By: Kitty Bullard
Raven Rating: 5

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Review: Even at the ripe old age of 39 I still enjoy a children’s story every now and again, and when I have the chance to find one that truly transports me back to those years of my youth I have to rate it highly. “The Adventures of Pengey Penguin” is definitely one of those books that in my opinion should be rated as an instant classic. The tales of this wonderful creature are some of the most interesting, adventurous, and delightful stories I’ve ever read.

I can imagine any child or even any adult that would not enjoy this book immensely. If you have the chance to get one book for your child or grandchild, you should make it “The Adventures of Pengey Penguin” you will be happy you made the decision and your child or grandchild will be happy too!

Synopsis: Pengey doesn't have many breaks as a baby; he's orphaned soon after he hatches. Shunned by the other penguins, without food, he has no chance to survive in an Antarctic winter. A fierce storm leaves him stranded on a tiny iceberg, but he stays calm and relies on the lessons his parents taught him. When he's lonely, or hungry, or angry, or just plain stuck, you see, he always, "ponders his options." Pengey is a very smart penguin. Days later, Pengey stumbles upon some humans. He is always inquisitive, polite, and a quick study, but he is near death from starvation when he meets Wendy. Still, he impresses her with his good manners and ability to speak small, but important, human words. His reward is a full tummy, but his friendship is short-lived when Wendy leaves to go back to her home in New York City. She pleads with Pengey to go with her, but he is terrified of the noisy airplane.

Feeling abandoned, Pengey vows to find Wendy again, and it is then that he begins a new adventure. One mishap leads Pengey to Brazil and to his happy reunion with her, but the next separates them and lands Pengey in animal jail. When the jailer notices his ability to talk, Pengey looks like money in the bank. The greedy jailer knows many evil-doers who would pay handsomely for a talking penguin. That they would enslave Pengey to the circus or the cloning laboratory is of no matter to him. It's in animal jail that Pengey meets his most trusted allies, Rufus Puffin-quiet, smart with knowledge of the sea, and Lionel Macaw-street-wise, grew up on the lower East-Side. The three unlikely friends must overcome obstacles that test their skills at every turn-not the least of which is how to escape from animal jail.

Then, the recaptured Pengey must escape from the Mad Scientist, Circus Master, and Animal Trainer. If, Lionel and Rufus can snatch him back from their clutches, the only way out will be through the rainforests of Brazil and Venezuela, with their constant danger of wild animals. Pengey's only option is to learn to fly. Luckily, Lionel is a huge bird, and the tiny penguin finds that he can fly fearlessly on Lionel's back. Clear of one obstacle and then another, the valiant threesome is faced with their greatest challenge, the flight across the mighty Caribbean, which is prone to terrible sea squalls. Pengey and Rufus can easily survive them, but Lionel cannot swim, and the little islands that dot the great water are few and far between. Spurred on by a little luck, Rufus and Lionel's strengths, and Pengey's cheerful, spirited ways---the unlikely friends make the dangerous 5,000-mile journey to New York.

There they go their separate ways, for that is the way things are--each rewarded by the friendship they found on their amazing adventure. But in the end, it is Pengey's reunion with the human who saved him from starvation that is a triumph of the spirit, because without Wendy, Pengey would have had no journey at all. "A bedtime story for the Soul"

Read more: http://www.greatmindsthinkaloud.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board...… (mais)

When Pengey Penguin’s mother does not return from Antarctica’s Weddell Sea, his starving father is forced to set out on his own quest for food, leaving the vulnerable hatchling behind. Shooed away from the Emperor colony, Pengey sets out in search of his father and soon finds himself at sea on a quickly shrinking ice floe. He battles an albatross, a leopard seal, and a storm, and is finally driven by hunger onto another icy surface where he meets Wendy, a filmmaker preparing to leave Antarctica. The two bond at first sight, largely because Pengey is an extraordinarily quick study when it comes to the language of humans. The rest of this animal fantasy details Pengey’s stowing away on the airplane that carries Wendy away from Antarctica, his separation from her at an airport in Brazil (in an incident which recalls Curious George’s early experiences with the man with the yellow hat), and his long journey to New York where Wendy lives and works. Along the way, Pengey meets friends—avian, reptile, and human—who help him battle the elements as well as outwit the mad scientist and circus master planning to cash in on his remarkable ability to talk.

While The Many Adventures of Pengey Penguin contains enough compelling action to justify its title, it takes more than an eventful plot to make a story about a little penguin fly. Unfortunately, poor writing keeps Pengey earthbound. Part of the problem seems to be that at least initially the author doesn’t seem to know what kind of story he wants to write. The first part of the book leads the reader to expect a semi-fictionalized narrative about a penguin's first days—in the manner of Brenda Guiberson’s The Emperor Lays an Egg. Early chapters are chock full of scientific facts presented in the occasionally clunky language of percentages, measurements, and (human) time. “A span of a mere seven seconds will freeze a baby penguin egg to death,” writes the author in one section. In another, Pengey’s father reflects that “daytime temperatures of forty degrees below zero” will “soon plummet to seventy or eighty below at night”. In a third, we’re told Pengey’s mother can “divert her blood flow away from her skin to make her completely immune to cold water” and “hold her breath when submerged for extremely long periods of time.” Within a few chapters, however, reader expectations are defied when fact-filled passages like those cited above give way to increasingly cutesy allusions to “tummies”, “yummy” food, and “bankeys” (blankets). Diction is not a strong point in this children’s novel; hackneyed expressions--such as “jump for joy”,” toasty warm”, and “fast as his little legs could carry him”--abound, and the words “extremely” and “very” are used to annoying excess. One of the biggest problems, however, is that the kindergarten-to-grade-three audience for whom the book seems to be intended is not trusted enough to make even simple inferences. The numerous unnecessary modifiers detailing characters’ tone of voice during dialogue, for example, should have been the first things on the editorial chopping block.

Additional problems with the book include inconsistencies of tense, voice, and point of view in particular. The young penguin’s story is initially told from a “limited third person” point of view, and the reader is accordingly shown Pengey’s struggles with naming the new things he sees outside the colony. However, the young penguin’s difficulty identifying objects is suddenly and inexplicably overcome as the author moves to presenting the story of “our hero” from the point of view of a benevolent, omniscient narrator. Now, without any tutoring, Pengey handily identifies cities, circuses, and all manner of novel objects and geographical features. One can only guess that detailing almost every new sight from a penguin chick’s point of view became too onerous for the author to sustain, but the sudden shift does not serve his narrative well.

In his prefatory note, the author communicates something of his love for his literary creation and the goal of his story. “Pengey,” he writes, “already likes you, and it’s his greatest wish that you’ll like him, all his friends, and his bedtime story, too.” Unfortunately love and great wishes alone are not enough to make this narrative work. It’s too bad, as careful prepublication revision--including some fairly radical excision of the many clichéd, sentimental, and wordy passages--might have afforded Pengey’s story a place in young readers’ hearts.

I thank NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with a copy of this book for reviewing purposes.… (mais)

I really wanted to love this book. How could you not want to love a book about a little penguin on an adventure to find his missing parents? There were so many issues with this book that it detracted from the story.
The book started very realistic. Pengey the Penguin is born under his father’s care. His mother never returns from her trek to the sea. Unable to care for Pengey and himself, his father leaves to find food. It’s sad and made me think of March of the Penguins. A somewhat realistic story would have worked or should have.
It wasn’t long before Pengey is in contact with humans. Suddenly, he’s communicating with them and eventually talking. I just couldn’t make the shift with the story.
The biggest problem with this book is the language. I really dislike juvenile fiction that cannot pick an age group. You have to write for your audience. The language in this book is simple about 80% of the time and then come these off the wall descriptions and language that is no longer simple.
The writing is not good and that makes me rather sad. I know that someone poured their heart out into this story and apparently it’s well loved. However, the author makes every writing no-no in this book. “He banged his head very badly…” “His last thoughts as he fell asleep were that humans were pretty cool…”
The last thing that annoyed me was some of the details. How does the penguin know what time it was? How did he know the name of the sea? He hadn’t been with his father for very long, how did he know so much information. There were moments I was sure Pengey must be psychic because the information was far too exact for what he should have known.
I love children’s books but there’s more to a book than a great story. Wonderful, lyrical words make up the stories we remember. A child might enjoy this story but it won’t become the one they quote.… (mais)