Penguin in Love

Penguin

by Salina Yoon

Penguin unravels a mystery that leads him to discover the biggest adventure of his life!

One day, Penguin was looking for love,
But instead he found . . .
A mitten.

When Penguin finds a lost mitten on the ice one day, he wonders who it belongs to—after all, every mitten has a mate! Prolific author/illustrator Salina Yoon's spare text and bright, energetic illustrations bring to life this endearing story celebrating love in its many forms, reminding us that the greatest adventure begins when you find your other half.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Love, Animals, Storytime, Fiction, Friendship

36 pages, Hardcover

First published December 3, 2013

About the author

Salina Yoon is an award-winning author/illustrator of over 150 books for children, including Penguin and Pinecone, Penguin on Vacation, Penguin in Love, Penguin and Pumpkin, Penguin's Big Adventure, Found, and Stormy Night.

Her latest book, Be a Friend, was a Winter 2015-2016 Kids' Indie Next Pick. Among her other awards are a Scholastic Teachers Top 10 Picture Book for Penguin's Big Adventure, and an NPR Best Book and 2014 SCIBA Book Award for Best Picture Book for Found. (complete list is on the website ABOUT page)

She studied art and design at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, and now lives in San Diego with her family.

www.salinayoon.com

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this cute story, Penguin goes in search of the owner of a lone mitten. When he cannot find its mate, he undertakes knitting one himself. Meanwhile, Bootsy is on the other side of the island, knitting things for her friends. When they both run out of yarn they travel far and wide to find some, only to discover that they are actually looking for love. Penguin and Bootsy find it... atop a high mountain. Cute story, thought Neo, but why are penguins knitting when they do not have fingers? Leave it to my son to knock down the pillars of a story's theme and get literal.

[Trevor Abbott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who would’ve thought that even Penguin book could remind me how single I am

[Clara Levi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew he had a thing for Bootsy; called it.💜

[Elaine Pelton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Illustrations are adorable, but the narrative is quite confusing and disjointed. And what was up with the whole cosy knitting thing?

[Lauren Allen · Rating 2 out of 5]

A plot that lacked direction (did Penguin ever realize that Bootsy made the mitten from page 1? Did Bootsy and Penguin realize that their yarn was stolen by meddling puffins? How could they knit on their journey to find their missing yarn?) but cute illustrations.

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

my lonely heart

[غزاله · Rating 1 out of 5]

قوی و هیجان انگیز شروع میشه، خیلی بی‌منطق ادامه پیدا میکنه و در نهایت سقوط می‌کنه. این داستان بچه رو گیج میکنه. توصیه میکنم به نخوندنش.

[Jocelin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVE THIS PENGUIN!!!!!!! He is so lovable and cute. These penguin books have a simple and sweet message that is so heart-warming to children as well as adults. I love this series; looking forward to many more.

[Briana Fulton · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story was so confusing to me. I couldn't follow along, and I had no idea what was happening.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this author's books. Bright, bold, colorful, simple, fun...great for kids. In this story, two penguins meet, are separated, and find each other again.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

So sweet and really cute art.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Penguin love - so sweet!

[Maggie Mattmiller · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was really confused throughout this book. I wanted to like it- knitting penguins, cute idea. But I have no idea what happened.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite as cute as Penguin and Pinecone, but my daughter liked it.

[alyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute af

[Beth Kakuma-Depew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Salina Yoon's bright bold illustrations, but this story feels a bit too complicated.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Penguin is back with all his sweetness, looking for love, but this time finds a mitten. While looking for the owner, he meets another penguin, Bootsy and this time they carry on their adventures through helping others by knitting what is needed. (Rather funny to see birds with beak warmers!) When their yarn disappears, they follow the ‘stringy’ trail while meeting all kinds of animals, helping out too! I was a little confused since they lost their yarn, but began knitting again. In the story, they find they’ve lost sight of each other, and the rest of the story is a lovely surprise. Brightly colored pictures in a snow setting is not easy to manage, but Salina Yoon does in quite creative ways. This could be a gift for your Valentine!

[Shoshana · Rating 5 out of 5]

PENGUINS! KNITTING! PENGUINS WHO KNIT!

This book is so damn cute, I'm willing to forgive Salina Yoon the WHOLE tree growing fiasco from two Penguin books ago. I want to sell this book to everyone ever to the point where I may sneak into other bookstores to do it.

SO. CUTE.

[Henry Herz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A heartwarming story featuring adorable penguins. I loved the artwork, as well as the humor of puffins wearing snout cozies.

[Mindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Knitting penguins searching for their true love? Adorable! I can't wait to use this for a read-a-loud during Valentine's Day.

[Lara Bate · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book about a penguin who falls in love with another penguin. They have knitting in common.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute illustrations, confusing story.

[Shaynning - Libraire Jeunesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un mignon petit album sur le thème du tricot et de l'amour.

Polo est en quête du grand amour, mais c'est sur une mitaine qu'il tombe. Il part à la recherche de celui ou celle qui l'a perdue, mais peine perdu. Il décide de tricoter une autre mitaine pour reformer la paire. Ensuite, il croise deux oiseaux dont l'un avait perdu son cache-bec en laine. Polo lui confie alors la nouvelle mitaine, sans avoir remarqué que l'autre oiseau avait exactement la même mitaine que celle trouvé! ( Franchement Polo!). Les oiseaux décident de lui voler ses balles de laine pour en faire une sorte de longue corde supposé le mener...heu...ce n'est pas très clair ce bout là. Toujours est-il que Polo va suivre le fil avec Bottine, son amie, qui tricote aussi et qui, d'ailleurs est celle qui a fait la mitaine perdue. Mais cette histoire de mitaine devient secondaire, car les deux pingouins vont simplement suivre ces deux fils, tricotant des choses utiles au passage, soit pour eux, soit pour les autres. Couvertures, foulard/écharpe, rideaux, mitaines/mouffles, pantoufles, etc. Il y a même des cache-montagnes, sortes de grosses tuques de laine posées au sommet des montagnes. Ils finissent séparés un moment et on le temps de s'ennuyer l'un de l'autre. Quand ils se retrouvent, guidés chacun par un fil, ils décident de tricoter un immense pull/chandail de laine pour une baleine. Dorénavant, ils ne se quittent plus.

Amusant de dire que le scénario est plutôt "décousu", mais c'est le cas. On perd le "fil" avec la mitaine du début, puis on suit un fil qui ne mène nul part. On pourrait extrapoler en disant qu'au fond, le seul but de ces deux fils étaient un prétexte pour que Polo et Bottine cheminent ensembles pour trouver les extrémités et se découvre un amour réciproque.

Sinon, les dessins sont vraiment mignons et tout ces tricots, dont certains sont situés à des endroits cocasses, comme le foulard enroulé autours d'une montagne, crée un visuel très attrayant.

Catégorisation: Album fiction, littérature jeunesse préscolaire, 4-5 ans
Note: 6/10

[Lara · Rating 4 out of 5]

The logic of the story is a little weak (where did the yarn come from that they were following/knitting up?) and the story is a little disjointed and perhaps more complex than it needs to be, but the message is still a good one - finding love makes for a big adventure. This isn't my favorite in the Penguin series (that would probably be Penguin on Vacation or Penguin's Big Adventure) but it's still not a bad one.

And really, who cares about logic when it's SO FREAKIN' CUTE?? Penguin and Bootsy knit!! If they weren't absurdly adorable to begin with, let me repeat: THEY KNIT!! And what do they knit? Hats and mittens and scarves and PUFFIN BEAK COZIES!! (OK, full disclaimer: I love penguins and I knit myself, so it would be really hard to lose with this combination, but that doesn't make it any less legitimately adorable)

Have used this for a Valentine storytime, and could also use for one on love, penguins, or (if I wanted to try it) knitting. The kids liked the beak cozies and all the little animals in their winter woolens.

[Anthony Burt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a heart-wrenchingly beautiful picture book about a penguin searching for love in an icy wilderness. The simple, emotional and engaging first line grabbed me by the heart-strings: “One day, Penguin was looking for love.”

With bold, cute illustrations by writer-illustrator Salina Yoon, it tells the story of a knitting Penguin roaming around to find love, but finds a lost mitten instead. This then leads to him searching for the mitten’s owner, talking to his many friends and relatives about it (with lots of funny jokes along the way), including his little friend Bootsy. She is a penguin who loves to knit too, to keep all her seal, whale and penguin friends warm in the cold, icy arctic.

I won’t spoil the ending, but suffice to say this book is a wonderful treat, especially if you’d like your little ones to learn a lesson about how you can find true love and friendship right in front of you if you look hard enough.

I adored this book and, as it’s 48-pages, it’s a slightly longer picture book so you can really get into telling the story over a longer period whilst reading it with your children.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Penguin is on a mission; a love mission. He’s looking for love, but instead he finds a mitten...and a mystery to solve! While Penguin searches for the mitten’s owner, his friend Bootsy is busy knitting snout cozies to keep her friends nice and toasty...and because “knitting warmed her lonely heart.” Aww. Penguin becomes busy with knitting, too, and he knits a “friend” for the mitten he found! Meanwhile, a couple of puffins have flown down from out of town and start causing some mischief (or are they playing cupid?). Penguin gifts them a snout cozy (oh! So, not a mitten!...), but then they also steal his yarn. While this is happening, Bootsy is knitting her whale friend a sweater and the puffins steal her yarn, too!

Penguin and Bootsy separately set off on their own individual journeys to find their yarn when they run into each other. They then decide to join forces and search for their yarn together. They find some clues and yarn along the way, knitting together to stay warm, for fun, and to stay cozy on their quest. They knit for others along the way, too, which makes them both quite happy until...a blizzard comes along and blows them apart! They resume their individual journeys, thinking of better days and leaving adorable, lovely signs for one another in the snow. The higher and higher they knit up the mountain peaks, the closer they get to one another. Finally, at the top of the highest peak, they find each other!

Finally...they reached the very top.
Penguin and Bootsy had pulled right into each other’s hearts.
And together...love was a BIG adventure!

Please note all of the adorable attention to detail that Yoon puts into her illustrations. In this book in particular, the yarn constantly creates little loops that look like hearts. Also, when Penguin and Bootsy are separated by the blizzard, their ice floes look like two halves of a heart ripped apart. My heart can barely take how adorable this all is! I recommend this sweet read to children ages 3-6 and, as always, penguin lovers everywhere.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Penguin, Bootsy and the supporting cast are cute. It reinforces the idea that love is formed through the things you do and share with each other. It depicts a male Penguin with a love of knitting, which is pretty cool because crocheting and sewing is an interest if one of my sons and it's hard to find male characters embracing it so smoothly.

I think it's a bit weird that the Penguins are socializing with seals given their real life relationships on the food chain, but kids' books do that a lot, so it's not worth down rating it over that.

The cozies were adorable! The running spoken commentary of the little cute animals was the high point of the book. Very charmingly done! All the little hearts (or broken hearts) were a fun side activity for my son to notice then seek out while we read.

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Penguin in Love I read this whole series (all the ones we had at the library anyway) over lunch. They're cute stories, but I thought they might have a little more substance to them. I still enjoyed the books. The illustrations are very cute. This one gets dramatic in the middle and I probably enjoyed it the most.
 
I also didn't look up their publish order beforehand so I kept starting one and then setting it aside because it referenced characters or past events I hadn't met or read about yet. There are some slight spoilers if you read certain books out of order.

[Emily Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a sweet and heart warming book that reminds children that when you love someone they will always find their way back at the end and not to give up because giving up does not mean anything more. I never realized the true meaning behinds childrens picture books until I read them when I was a little older and can understand the meaning behind them it is a very good theme to this book and the interaction between penguins and other animals that are reaching out to help them shows a good humanity trait that all children should learn at a young age.

[Alicia Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the Penguin books and this one is one of the cutest! Not only do the penguins knit, but they're looking for love and sometimes love is right in front of you. I love their adventures and all their friends along the way. It's definitely a book to not think too much about and just enjoy. Lovely.

For: fans of the Penguin books; readers looking for a romantic read.

Possible red flags: some may find the narrative confusing considering all the side conversations.