Penguinaut!

by Marcie Colleen, Emma Yarlett (Illustrator)

The story of a small penguin with a big dream that's out of this world! Orville lives at the zoo, surrounded by animal pals who go on exciting adventures. A hang gliding rhino! A deep-sea diving giraffe! Orville struggles to keep up, until one day he concocts an adventure all his build a spaceship and fly to the moon all by himself. Can one tiny penguin get there alone?Penguinaut is perfect for every child who's said, "I can do it myself!" and comes to find that the rewards are much richer when shared with friends. Marcie Colleen's playful text and Emma Yarlett's charming, whimsical illustrations are sure to delight both children and their parents.

Genres: Picture Books, Space, Animals, Storytime, Childrens, Friendship, Adventure

32 pages, Hardcover

First published June 6, 2019

About the author

Marcie Colleen is the author of numerous books for children, among them Love, Triangle; Penguinaut!; The Bear's Garden; and the Super Happy Party Bears chapter book series. Forever a New Yorker, she now lives in San Diego, California.

Reviews

[Andrea]

This is an engaging story with gentle humor and simple but fun language: “perfectly penguin-sized” anyone? The author has managed to bring out several different emotions within the adventure theme, making this a versatile read aloud for an educational setting. Some of the elements that are great for discussion include perseverance, independence, creativity, goal-setting, feelings of anxiety and excitement and being kind to others.

I love the illustrations, especially the one where Orville draws the plans for his rocket. All the characters in the story have characteristic expressions and there are so many fun details for kids to notice as they “read” the pictures.

[Aneesa]

Believe it or not, this is not the only book about a penguin going to space that we own.

[Kareena]

Silly, fun, good friends, lots of action. Fantastic for a storytime.

[KC]

A penguin is determined to fly into space and land on the moon...

[Ann]

Adorable. Kids are going to love this book!

[Carmen Zeisler]

I had the change to see this book at NerdCampKS and I just LOVE IT! The illustrations and the story are fantastic! This is a must have in elementary classrooms!

[Viviane Elbee]

Such a fun picture book for young fans of outer space, the moon, astronauts & zoo animals! :) Kids loved it.

[Vera_leest]

Heerlijk boekje 🥰

[S.M.]

Adorbs.

[Colorado Buck]

one book colorado choice for 2019. interesting story about a penguin who has big dreams and goes off on his big adventure to the moon only to discover that he is alone and he misses his friends. loved how he imagined he saw them as he looked into the constellations.

[Barbara]

Orville was a small penguin who longed for big adventures. So, he decided to build a spaceship! His friends were a little worried about him going it alone but they were still supportive of his interplanetary travels. Children ages 2 - 6 will enjoy Orville's spunk and determination in Penguinaut by Marcie Colleen.

[Cindy Mitchell *Kiss the Book*]

Penguinaut! By Marcie Colleen, illustrated by Emma Yarlett. PICTURE BOOK. Orchard Books (Scholastic), 2018. $17. 9780545848848

BUYING ADVISORY: Pre-K, EL (K-3) - ADVISABLE

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

Orville the penguin has lots of friends at the zoo, but he is always jealous of their BIG adventures. When he announces that he plans to fly to the moon, they all keep reminding him how small he is. Can such a little penguin really make it all the way to the moon?

Of course a penguin flying to the moon in a cardboard spaceship is silly. But the idea being told you can’t do something because you are too little will resonate with readers. Yarlett’s illustrations add just the right amount of whimsy.

Cindy, Middle School Librarian
https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2018...

[zapkode]

{My thoughts} – Who doesn’t like to go on an adventure into outer space. This is a nice little book about a Penguin that builds a Rocket ship so that he can blast off into outer space. Once he’s there he messes around some and then he makes the trip back.

The story tells about his nice adventure and about how what he did while he was on the moon. He seemed to have had a lot of fun and enjoyed himself. The illustrations and the words go together nicely within the pages of this book.

I think that any child that enjoys space and adventures will enjoy this book. It was an enjoyable read and I think that it has the potential to become any child’s new favorite bedtime story.

[Amanda Harrison]

I love how the penguin tries so hard to get to the moon, but in a moment of doubt needs an encouraging word from his friends. Is this the lost concept in failure leads to success? That maybe we need to keep trying even when things are hard, but also that we need to lean on our friends?

Will be recommending this one to a number of circles.

[Mehsi]

Een leuk, erggggg fantasierijk boek over een pinguïn die net als zijn grote dierenvrienden (hij heeft er echt een berg en ook allerlei soorten) ook avonturen wil beleven. Hij besluit naar de maan te gaan... in een kartonnen raket. Ja, vanaf dat moment vond ik het toch wat minder. Ik gok gewoon maar dat het allemaal verbeelding is/of een goede droom. :P En ja, ik ben volwassen, maar geloof maar, dit zou ik ook als kind hebben. Ik kan mijn kindzelf al horen zeggen: Ja, maar het is karton, daar kun je niet mee naar de maan!
Leuke illustraties.

[Gabi]

Any child (or adult) who’s ever been told she’s “too small” to do something or who’s envied the big adventures her friends are having will identify with Orville. And Marcie Colleen’s wordplay is masterful. I love that Orville “flippered out” and gave a “trembling flipper salute”!

Emma Yarlett’s mixed-media illustrations depict Orville’s world with whimsy and charm.

Who can resist big-hearted Penguinaut?

[Nicole]

This book is super cute!!! I have a little patron that is OBSESSED with Penguins and Summer Reading '19 is SPACE, so this book is perfect for my library. The illustrations are great and the story is cute, while still using space vocab that could be a new intro for your kiddo or a review. Librarians this is a must have for your space collection for next summer!!

[Lucy Branam]

This adorable, heartwarming book is a great reminder of the friends that we all have right under our noses. It also shows readers that the grass on the other side (or on another planet!) isn’t always as green as what’s already under our feet.

There’s great variety in the layout of the fun illustrations. The drawings are done in a cheery palette with lots of blue and yellow/orange.

[MeganRuth - Alohamora Open a Book]

Cute. Cute story about reaching your dreams and not being afraid to do hard things.

It could make a fun Family Storytime or read aloud for school age kids. Great vocabulary/word choice. Fun story to read.

Sweet story of friendship.

A bit of a STEM aspect as well with comparisons.

[Alyssa Mandell]

None of the zoo animals thought he could do it but penguin made it to the moon all by himself. Once he made it did penguin realize doing things with others is better than by yourself. Would made a great first storytime story for space or friendship theme.

[Miss Pippi the Librarian]

Orville the penguin wanted his own big adventure, so he made plans and build a spaceship. He traveled to the moon! Fun story about traveling on an adventure and a sweet story about friends.

Reviewed from a library copy.

[Erin]

The main story hits on themes of independence, big dreams, and quite literally reaching for the stars. Penguin is supported in his endeavors by the rest of his zoo friends. Eventually, though, penguin realizes that he's lonely.

[Lynn Davidson]

The other animals in the zoo had exciting BIG adventures, but Orville, a small penguin, had small adventures and big dreams. He decided he was going to blast off to the moon - an adventure bigger than anyone's - and he was doing it himself. Fun story and illustrations.

[Tracie]

A penguin wants to have big adventures like their friend and decide to try to go to the moon.

[Liz]

A penguin makes it into outer space and learns going out there is better with friends.

[Sara]

Cute story demonstrating life’s better with friends.

[Jesse]

Penguin wants to have big adventures like his friends. Will it be satisfying, though, if he's alone when he has them? Read to find out. :)

[Barbara]

Orville is a penguin who longs to travel to the moon. After all, he's watched the other animals in the zoo who are his friends have all sorts of adventures. They try to persuade him from his plans, but he persists. Eventually, he lands on the moon, has a blast, but then he starts to miss those friends, and decides to head back to Earth. There are some great word choices in the text as well as some word play and playful use of fonts and letters that add to the book's appeal, but the story itself didn't particularly appeal to me since I knew how things would turn out. Little ones will probably be charmed by the story, though, and enjoy the illustrations, created with watercolor, collage, pencil, crayon, pen and paints. Many of them do an excellent job of providing perspective on size and showing that even the smallest ones among us have dreams and ambitions.

[Marie]

Orville the penguin lives at a zoo and has lots of animal friends. All of his friends have fun adventures. One goes hang-gliding; another goes deep-sea-diving.... (and, apparently, the zookeepers are just ok with this?) Orville, however, hasn't had an adventure. Poor guy.

One day he decides what his adventure will be: he's going to space! He'll be the first ever penguinaut! And he's going to do it all by himself !

I'm a good reviewer, so you'll have to read the book to find out if he makes it to the moon. ;)

I liked that it was funny, and showed that you (and/or your penguin) can accomplish anything you set your mind too.

I was 'meh' on the humor (it went over the head of my preschooler) and the ambiguity of the moral of the story (I feel like that also went over the head of my preschooler).

[Becky B]

Orville lives at a zoo where his friends all have spectacular adventures. He wants to do big things too. He decides he's going to the moon! But can one little penguin make it to the moon?

I like the lesson in this that just because you can do things by yourself doesn't mean you always should, and that doing things with others has value. The illustrations in this are very cute and attractive with touches of humor. It's a pretty quick read, so it should entertain even younger kids with short attention spans. Recommended to penguin lovers, animal lovers, and kids who need reminders that friends are good, even for independent types.