This big book is not only incredibly adorable but also teaches kid’s math and even about global warming. A family receives an anonymous package with a penguin inside and continues to receive one every day for a whole year. They try to find places to put all the penguins, organizing them into groups, stacking them, putting them in boxes, and counting them and teaching kids math concepts along the way. The nice big size- 11″x14″ gives the illustrator plenty of room to pack hundreds of penguins on a page. Besides black and white, only a few other colors are used giving the book a nice graphic look- somewhat reminiscent of vintage children’s books. At the end of the book we discover the penguins are from Uncle Victor, the ecologist, who is trying to save the penguins. The ice caps are melting and their homeland in the South Pole is getting smaller and smaller since the planet is heating up. He decided to help the penguins by introducing them to the North Pole but needed to export the endangered penguins secretly one at a time. In the end he takes all but one penguin (Chilly was kept as a pet) in his truck to the North Pole. You can get a copy of this book right here.

© Julia Rothman 2007