Goodnight, Little Penguins by The Penguin Foundation & Jedda Robaard

The penguin colony on Phillip Island is a must for visitors to Victoria. Here they will see the nightly parade of little penguins coming home to their burrows. This story reveals a lost penguin and its journey home to its mother. Children will adore the story, simply told with the overlay of being lost and finding home again. The story reinforces the idea of family, of belonging, and of the comfort of home.

A penguin couple is making their burrow and add two eggs to the east. When they hatch, the adults keep them alive but soon its time for the female to go out into the ocean for food to keep the chicks’ stomachs full. They call to each other, the male keeping watch over the chicks, and when dusk falls she returns, aware of the noise her family makes. Then they are all home together, safe, warm and with full stomachs.

Younger children will enjoy making the noises along with the story as it unfolds: the noise of the breaking egg shells as the baby penguins hatch, the noises of the hatchlings, the noises the family makes calling to eat other. And the soft, warm enticing illustrations will speak directly to the younger readers, redolent of home, safety and the surety of both parents.

Information about the Penguin Foundation can be found at the end of the book, encouraging readers not only to be aware of these little penguins, but to be more aware of conservation and its role in helping animals like these survive.

Themes: Penguins, Family, Home, Survival.

Fran Knight