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Penguin Pandemonium #1

Penguin Pandemonium

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An unforgettably funny, animal adventure story about a little bird with big dreams from award-winning author Jeanne Willis. One of the fantastic titles in the brand new AWESOME ANIMALS series - the funniest fiction, starring the wildest wildlife, from prize winning authors.

Rory the rockhopper penguin loves showing off, but with few visitors to the zoo, life has become a little dull. If things don’t improve the zoo might have to close. So when the keepers install PENGUINCAM Rory grabs his chance with both flippers, organising a dazzling penguin talent show to pull in the crowds…

An unforgettably funny story about a little bird with big dreams.

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

3 people are currently reading
78 people want to read

About the author

Jeanne Willis

482 books116 followers
Jeanne Willis was born in St Albans and trained as an advertising copywriter at Watford College. She worked for various agencies creating press adverts and TV, cinema and radio commercials. She is now a full-time writer and has published over 80 books. Her hobbies include gardening, reading (non-fiction), natural history and collecting caterpillars. Jeanne has also worked on scripts for TV, including POLLY POCKET and THE SLOW NORRIS, and a pilot TV series for DR XARGLE. She lives in North London with her husband and two children.

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5 stars
50 (47%)
4 stars
30 (28%)
3 stars
19 (17%)
2 stars
4 (3%)
1 star
3 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
Profile Image for Connieabbott.
1 review
January 8, 2023
Very good and it was amazing at the end it was a really good read when the zoo open back up again
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Velizar Kitanov.
18 reviews
October 1, 2020
A really good book about children but not only. The story is quite simple but written in a very pleasant way. Reading this you can think how simple everything should be, we are who make it the other way.
Profile Image for Lizzie.
107 reviews1 follower
January 2, 2023
The second Awesome Animals book that we've read as a bedtime story to our child.
Good story line, lovely pictures and a nice part about learning to say sorry. Just quite a lot of characters to get your head around and seemed fairly short as well.
Profile Image for Séverine.
547 reviews8 followers
May 21, 2015
Un groupe de pingouins remarquent que le zoo dans lequel ils vivent, a de moins en moins de visiteurs qu'avant. Au détour d'une conversation surprise entre le gardien et sa fille, ils apprennent que le zoo va fermer ses portes à cause de ce manque de visiteurs. Salto, le pingouin chouchou de la jeune fille va trouver une idée pour sauver le zoo de la catastrophe.

Et nos pingouins ne sont pas en reste pour faire des bêtises, ni pour trouver des idées complètement loufoques ! Jeux de mots, humour, blagues, bref c'est un premier tome décalé très drôle et on se prend vite d'affection pour nos pingouins. Le tout servit pas une écriture fluide et de courtes descriptions qui permettent de s'immerger rapidement dans l'histoire.

Voilà, c'était le point de vue de l'adulte. Mais d'un point de vue "public visé" (c'est à dire 8 ans), voilà ce qu'il en ressort : le thème de la mort est abordé d'une manière trop froide, limite aseptisé, qui ne convient pas à cet âge. Une leçon de morale glauque s'installe autour : ne te dispute pas avec tes amis, sinon si ils meurent et si t'as pas eu le temps de t'excuser, tu vas regretter et culpabiliser.

C'est donc pas joyeux, surtout que ça n'a rien à voir avec le sauvetage du zoo et est amené d'une manière totalement irréaliste : le pingouin Francky, enfermé au zoo, apprend qu'un de ses anciens ami pingouin avec qui il s'était disputé avant de se faire capturer, est mort. Ce pingouin vivait encore à l'état sauvage, dans son habitat naturel, c'est à dire aucun moyen de savoir que son ami est décédé... (Le lecteur a peut-être 8 ans, mais faut pas abuser avec les lois de la logique non plus).

C'est drôle, mais les jeux de mots et blagues sont trop alambiquées pour le jeune, il faudra un adulte à ses côtés pour expliquer la teneur des moments drôles de l'histoire, sinon le jeune lecteur passera à côté.

En bref, sympa, mais clairement pas pour le public visé.
Profile Image for Tamara Taylor.
558 reviews14 followers
March 25, 2017
This is an adorable and fun read to share with kids. My 8 year old son is starting to enjoy chapters books so we took turns reading aloud to each other at bedtime. The story is light yet engaging. The characters are hilarious and charismatic. We laughed often throughout the adventure. It is an easy enough read to not deter young readers yet includes a broad range of vocabulary to add a challenge. Cute illustrations throughout delighted us. I highly recommend any of the books in this series for young readers who want a fun, enjoyable chapter book experience.
Profile Image for Dena McMurdie.
Author 4 books134 followers
July 29, 2016
When the zoo is threatened with closure, the penguins take it upon themselves to save it. Rory, Blue, and Muriel form a shaky alliance in an effort to bring more visitors in. Along with the rest of the penguin personalities, they decide to put on a talent show to draw people in. What follows is a humorous attempt at organizing the show, coordinating the acts, running off penguin impostors, and trying to keep one particular penguin from throwing too many fits.

Light-hearted and fun, Penguin Pandemonium is perfect for elementary age kids. They will laugh along as Rory takes on the headache of friendship, foes, and balancing the two for the sake of the show.

Content: Clean

My blog: Batch of Books
12 reviews
August 30, 2016
Definitely a good time-killer and a lighthearted book.


At the zoo, Rory the penguin is a show-off and attention lover, but he notices that less and less people are visiting the zoo as time goes by. One day, one of the zoo animals hears the owner talking to his daughter, saying that the zoo will soon have to close down since they aren't making enough money. The rest of the zoo hears about this and panics, until the penguins come up with a plan, the penguins are going to put on a talent show and try to promote it, in hopes that enough people will come to the zoo and then the zoo won't have to close down.

After struggling and trying their best to attract enough people to the zoo, the show is finally a success, and the zoo continues to open.
Profile Image for Henry Grant.
14 reviews2 followers
May 23, 2014
Smart making is as if the penguins are talking. I like the way it is elaborated. Not to many words but you get a clear picture through them though. Rory is my favourite character.
Profile Image for Elli.
448 reviews7 followers
Read
July 11, 2017
Aha I remember conning my dad into getting me this for world book day from ASDA, I said I had to dress up as a book character and take in the book and I wanted to be a penguin.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews

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