A Penguin Pup for Pinkerton

Pinkerton #5

by Steven Kellogg

When Emily comes home from school and tells her family what she has learned about penguin parents and their babies, Pinkerton is inspired and starts dreaming of raising a penguin pup of his own. In his desperation to become a father, Pinkerton mistakes a football for a penguin egg and winds up tossing an entire football team into one big pileup. Luckily, Emily's Granny arrives in time to save the day, in this typically hilarious adventure starring everyone's favorite irrepressible Great Dane.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Childrens, Dogs, Friendship, Humor

32 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2001

About the author

Steven Kellogg is an author and illustrator who has contributed over 90 books for children. He is best known for writing books about animals, for which he credits his grandmother .

Reviews

[Rod Brown]

A big goofy dog hears about penguins hatching eggs on the ice and decides to try hatching his own little one from a football he steals from a neighbor boy. Hijinks and chaos ensue as he disrupts show and tell at school and then a football game in the park through his misguided dedication.

I really like the cat's thought balloons and the art, but the story doesn't quite click with me as the dog gets a free pass for all his disruption. He and the little girl who owns him are not quite cute enough to pull that off.

My daughter thought it was plenty cute though when she was three.

[Tricia]

ack, i had to read this twice...it was that enjoyable for my preschool audience that it was a repeat request. while title is a picture book, factual information is basis for the story of a dog who protects a football like a penguin egg.

[Nancy Kotkin]

Emily's class learns about Emperor penguins and their parenting techniques. Then Pinkerton, the Great Dane, believes he is an Emperor penguin and the football he stole from a neighbor's yard is his egg. Sweet but too far-fetched, even for a picture book.

[Peacegal]

This is a wacky story about a large, clumsy dog who learns about penguins and decides he wants to become a "penguin papa." The storyline is rather frantic and disjointed, but the illustrations are cute and appealing.

[Abby]

Read to Sam.

Signed copy. :)

[Caleb Harris]

Definitely the best Pinkerton book I've read yet--and, interestingly, the only one I clearly remember from my childhood.

[Patty]

Another fun Pinkerton story with all of the characters we have come to know. The grandmother comes up with a great solution!

[Child960801]

The girl's name is Emily. In this one, she comes home and tells the family about penguins, which inspires Pinkerton to adopt a football as his egg that he then tries to hatch.

[Lynn Davidson]

When Emily comes home from school excited about what she learned about emperor penguins and their care for their chicks, Pinkerton begins imagining he has a penguin chick of his own. Using a football as his egg creates big confusing problems when Emily takes him with her to a game. Great ending and illustrations.

[Jane Night]

I love Pinkerton. This book was just as funny as the other ones I have read.
My five year old didn't find as much humor in it as I did so maybe it is more appropriate for a slightly older reader.

[Samantha]

Steven Kellogg was always one of my favorite author/illustrators when I was little. I read every book of his I could find, including this one. Now my sister is reading it and I'm so happy to have the opportunity to revisit it after so long.

Pinkerton is one of the most lovable dogs I've ever found! He is always so cute & thoughtful. In this book, Pinkerton's owner comes back from school announcing that they are doing a study unit on penguins and proceeds to tell her family how penguins take care of their penguin chicks. Pinkerton finds a football and begins to think of it as his own penguin egg. He cares for it & ends up getting into a spot of trouble for it.

A Penguin Pup for Pinkerton is a must-read for all Penguin, Dog and beautiful illustration lovers. =)

[Emily]

Although I am not familiar with many authors, I have heard of Steven Kellogg. Usually his books are pretty good and catch my eye. This book for some reason did quite the opposite. In A Penguin Pup for Pinkerton, a dog uses his imagination thinking a football is his baby. Hey must protect it like a penguin would, keeping it on his paws. This book is jumping place to place and a little bit of everywhere.

[Patricia]

In this story, Pinkerton decides to be a penguin Daddy. He tries to hatch his penguin egg, which is really a football. In the end, Emily's grandma makes Pinkerton a proud Pinkwin Daddy, but not before Pinkerton creates havoc around the neighborhood. Pinkerton at his best. Classic "Kelloggized" illustrations make this story enjoyable as well.

[LJ]

The Goodreads blurb posted for this book is actually for "Island of the Skog." So this book is about a big dog with a big imagination, who believes what he hears about penguin pups and thinks he is incubating his own, which is really a football. I was confused with the way it started, but it turned into a fun tale.

[Anthony]

When Emily shares what she learned at school about penguins with her family, Pinkerton thinks the football he found is an egg, and he's an emperor penguin. This leads to high-jinks and tom foolery for Emily and Pinkerton, until granny comes up with a solution to appease Pinkerton, and the upset town folks.

[Lesley Looper]

Emily shares what she's learned about penguins at school when she gets home, and Pinkerton decides to take care of a football, which he thinks is a penguin egg! The cute illustrations also help make this is one of my favorite Pinkerton books!

[Logan Young]

Quick read. 1st grade level. It's about a dog who hears about how penguins take care of eggs and thinks a football is his egg. He takes care off it, and one of his owners sews him a penguin stuffed animal to be his baby.

[Karen]

I'm kind of on the fence about Steven Kellogg. His illustrative work can be very, very good, but his text doesn't always tell the best story in the best way. After this book, I'm still on the fence.


Actual rating: 2.5 stars, but I round up.

[Staci]

Charming! Noah loves this book, as well as all the other Pinkerton stories by Steven Kellogg.

[Letitia]

Love the Pinkerton stories, but I'm not terribly impressed by the illustrations...although Pinkerton himself is cute.

[MB (What she read)]

Very cute! I love Steven Kellogg's Pinkerton books.

[Sandybear76]

I love Steven Kellogg's illustrations! Pinkerton is inspired by Emily's study of penguins that he wants one too. He thinks a football is an egg and he keeps it to hatch it.

[Alexandria K]

In this story, Pinkerton finds a football and he thinks its a penguin egg. This book has wonderful pictures in it too. I love penguins.

[Kristen]

Not my favorite Pinkerton story.

[Sara]

September 2012

[Josie]

This is a really cute book about a dog that wants some baby penguins. It's got some educational penguin facts in it and it was funny for the kids.

[Pinky]

Pinkerton searches for a Pinkwin to love.

[D Nine]

Not quite sure it will appeal to story time group but appropriate for 1st or 2nd graders. Good complimentary story on penguins.

[Katherine Salinas]

This book was so random and all over the place!

[Robin]

Great, highly detailed illustrations. Enjoyed them far more than the story.