Penguin Flies Home

October 1, 2018
The rotund, ambitious hero of Flight School (2014) returns home to Antarctica to share the magic of flying above the earth with his penguin friends.When Teacher and Flamingo realize that Penguin seems homesick, they plan together to fly the little flightless bird the long distance to his icy home. There, Penguin tries to convince the other young penguins of the marvels of flying. They are unconvinced--and take joy in a plunge and some underwater soaring. In the end, Penguin realizes that his particular passion for flying makes him different but that being different is just fine. Judge's animated style invests Penguin, his classmates, and his penguin friends with endearing personalities. Penguin is attired in goggles and the flight suit that helps his more-accomplished flying friends to bear him aloft. Made of fishing lines with attendant lures bouncing from the ends, the apparatus gives him a jaunty look. Aerial scenes from Penguin's viewpoint make his happiness at seeing the world from the sky persuasive, and the affection shown him by his flight school companions as well as by his fellow penguins is affirming. Endpapers offer yearbook-style portraits from Penguin's flight school and vignettes from his scrapbook of his trip to Antarctica.Lighthearted and lots of fun. (Picture book. 3-5)

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November 1, 2018
Preschool-G Penguin does unexpectedly well at flight school, but he sometimes longs for his friends back home. His teacher announces a field trip for Penguin, Flamingo, and Egret, and they all take off for the South Pole. At Penguin's insistence, his old friends reluctantly try flipping and flapping their small wings, but they soon give up on flying and dive into the sea instead. Despondent, Penguin wonders whether folks with different dreams can remain friends, but the next day, they surprise him with a celebratory, triumphant snow sculpture of their high-flying pal. A penguin in flight may defy the laws of physics, but all seems to work out well within this reassuring story, which makes its point with empathy and humor. The well-structured illustrations, line drawings with watercolor washes, vary from close-ups of amusing birds to large-scale scenes of sea and sky. There are few birds more endearing than Judge's Penguin, with his rotund little body, scarlet aviator glasses, and passionate attachment to his dream and his friends. A fitting sequel to Flight School ? (2014).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)