Up & Down

by Britta Teckentrup

Lift the flaps to take Little Penguin on a journey filled with ups and downs.

Little Penguin misses his friend and decides it’s time to visit. Leaping off his iceberg, he embarks on a journey, facing ups and downs and ins and outs until the pair are finally reunited. Young readers will have fun getting hands-on with this interactive book of lift-the-flap opposites, presented in an upmarket format that perfectly showcases Britta Teckentrup’s color-rich artwork.

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

28 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2013

About the author

Britta Teckentrup was born in Germany and moved to England in 1988. She is the author and illustrator of many books for children. She now lives in Berlin with her husband and young son.

Reviews

[anakdenesor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cute book about the journey of the peguin to meet his friend. Reading this book during the library lesson and having Q&A session with the student.

For me, life is full of ups and down, our journey might be different from other.So don't give and keep going because the stronger our will, the better life we will get

[Negar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Story 3
Illustration 4
Design 5

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally, an opposite book worth reading during storytime! It actually has a story and the lift the flap elements will be a hit. I would have given it five stars, but I felt the illustrations were dark.

[Jeniece Goellner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picture books with penguins in them are usually a hit in my house. This one is just confusing though. The flaps don't open the same way, and sometimes, depending on how they were left from a previous reading, aren't in the right position when you turn to the next page. Just didn't work for my family.

[KC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute lift the flaps story of penguin friendship.

[Alyssa Gudenburr · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great one-on-one book about opposites with flaps you can lift. The sentences are short but it is LONG for little ones.

[BiblioBeruthiel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the tactile fun of this book!

[Syntha Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect for storytime

[Eleanor · Rating 4 out of 5]

fun! was looking for books about prepositions. will check this out again when my baby isn’t so focused on biting it and trying to rip the flaps.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was attracted to this book because of its art, then discovered that it is also an elegant book of opposites. Just delightful.

[Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Little Penguin travels to visit his friend, teaching opposites as he goes.

This book features lift-the-flaps as well as pairs of opposites.

[Liz De Coster · Rating 3 out of 5]

As usual visually lovely, but some of the flaps are situated so that the "action" is revealed as you turn the page.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Preschool
Penguins and opposites

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always enjoy ocean life illustrations. However, there are other Teckentrup titles that I have enjoyed more, somehow the flaps to life seemed to open in the wrong direction for my enjoyment.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a lesson in engineering flips and flaps!

[DiAnne Warfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holt-Delhi library Preschool story time 02-18-2025

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun lift a flap book that teaches opposites. Follow little penguin on his journey to meet up with his friend.

[Becki C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book for toddlers. The flaps are very clever and artistic. We love Teckentrump’s work in our house. This book is especially creative!

[Erin Buhr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two penguin friends live far away from each other on different ice bergs. When one of the penguins decides to swim to the other, he goes on quite an opposites and lift-the-flap filled adventure. Full of Teckentrup's wonderfully warm illustrations and interactive flaps this is a fun one for young kids. The careful text is brief enough for toddlers and the plot is interesting enough for older children. Yet another wonderful book from one of today's best author/illustrators for kids.

[Miss Pippi the Librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lift-the-Flap book about one penguin's adventure reaching a friend.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concept Book
A penguin goes on a perilous journey to visit his best friend on a far off iceberg.

Using location words and simple text, Techentrup creates an easy to use book when teaching directional concepts. The penguin demonstrates each action along with accompanying artwork that clearly illustrates the concept. Flaps add to the adventure as one word is listed in a sentence, and, under the flap, the opposite location word is illustrated. The digital illustrations use darker colors to accurately portray the underwater journey of the penguin. The flaps like up nicely with the rest of the page and are a huge temptation for little hands to explore. The “above” and “below” pages are particularly well done and include a half page flap that clearly assists younger readers to move from one concept to its opposite and demonstrate the size relationship between a little penguin and a giant octopus.

Overall, the book is an enjoyable way to learn location words and the concepts of opposites. The book works quite well as a preschool and kindergarten storytime book and will work just as well with toddlers. As with all toy and movable books, a more responsible person needs to be present as children enjoy the library or classroom copy of Up & Down. Though it may have to be replaced in a personal library collection because flaps will tear, it is well worth the purchase.

[Matthew Winner · Rating 5 out of 5]

The third book is Up & Down: a lift-the-flap book by Britta Teckentrup. And this is so fun! It's penguins! One penguin separated by an iceberg to another and they're trying to get to one another. And the lift-the-flaps are just amazing! You're flipping quarter sheets of paper that they go from left to right and then end up going diagonal across the page, until they become entire entire page within a spread. I can't even really explain it to you. You'll have to check it out for yourself. But the penguin is going up and down and through he ocean and around different animals to get to his partner. And it is just beautiful. It's a beautiful work of art, reminding us all why picture books in this medium work so well. To be hands-on. To be in print. It's just lovely. I see myself sharing this with lots and lots of other people. I know my son and I have already enjoyed it an awful lot already.

This review appears on an episode of the “Best Book Ever [this week]” segment of the Let’s Get Busy podcast. Check out the original post here: http://lgbpodcast.blogspot.com/2015/0...

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Readers will enjoy following Little Penguin as he hits heights and depths in his journey to be reunited with his friend. The stylish digital illustrations feature several flaps to be lifted and moved to the side, the top, even the bottom of the page. Despite the somewhat awkwardness of the flap, I enjoyed the one featuring his ocean adventures as he encountered jellyfish and an octopus, one above him, and one group below him. The alignment of the flaps to the rest of the pages matches perfectly, giving readers a visual treat, complete with fish swimming across the endpapers. It's pretty clear that this penguin has gone to great lengths for his friend.

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Britta Teckentrup's art, but I've never found the book that is just the perfect match for her bold curves and crumbly textures - until now. Maybe it's the palette of warm navy and sea greens, maybe it's the big flaps that show off her stellar compositional eye... or maybe it's the scale of this picture book. The sinuous screenprinted shapes glide or bob through quantities of dark water, letting the simple story, loaded with opposites (above and below, small and big, in front of and behind) shine through.

[Steph]

Turn/Level: 2/2

Oceans, Ocean Life, Penguin, Travel

Good secondary read, a penguin visits his friend on a faraway iceberg and we follow him as he swims through the ocean. Many other wildlife seen on the way. Good secondary read, and cute lift the flap implementation but be careful about letting the audience help (best not).

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Teckentrup's illustrations and color palette. A cute penguin is on a journey to see his friend across the ocean. Lift-the-flaps illustrate the meanings of common prepositions. My only complaint with this book is that the lift-the-flaps are too tricky to manage during a storytime.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

No, really who is reviewing these books. I began to read the book and thought, now those penguins do not seem so faraway. As I continued reading I realized the story was cute but attempting to introduce concepts falls short - rather faraway!! This could have been a great book.

[Bmack · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book highlighting opposites and directional words. By moving the flaps you help little penguin reach her friend on a faraway iceberg. It would be a great storytime book or one just to share one on one.

[Kym · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this lift-the-flap book, kids will like learning opposites. In each pair, the opposites are typed in bold making it easy for kids to find and read. Although it is a cute story about penguins and the flaps are fun, the opposites are really the point of this book.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great use of flaps to visually explain opposites. Teckentrup knows how to write and illustrate an interactive picture book, especially great ones for storytime. Easily lends itself to "Two Little Penguins."