Pablo and Splash: Frozen in Time: The hilarious kids' graphic novel series about time-travelling penguins

by Sheena Dempsey

Time-travelling penguins Pablo and Splash must rescue their friend from the Ice Age in this brilliantly funny, full-colour graphic novel for young readers.Pablo and Splash go to visit Professor O'Brain in her lab, only to find that their friend has been left behind in the Ice Age by her misbehaving time machine. The brave penguin buddies set out on a rescue mission – destination 68,000 years ago! When a Neanderthal man accidentally wanders into their time machine, it's not just the professor who is stuck in the wrong time period. But luckily a scientific breakthrough for Pablo and Splash's endlessly upbeat approach to life's challenges helps save the day!The race against time – several times over! – makes this pacey and hilarious graphic novel irresistible. It'll be a huge hit for fans of Bunny vs Monkey, Bumble and Snug, funny animal stories and light-hearted ancient history.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Childrens, Time Travel, Adventure

240 pages, Hardcover

Published March 4, 2025

About the author

Sheena Dempsey was born in Cork, Ireland, and studied fine art at the Ireland’s National College of Art and Design. She graduated from London’s Kingston University with a BA in illustration in 2011. Bye-Bye Baby Brother! is her first picture book. She lives in London.

Reviews

[Adam Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars.
Review submitted to School Library Journal for publication in upcoming Fiction SMS article.

[books.bintulu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jan 2025: Pablo and Splash: Frozen In Time

Splash is a cheeky penguin while Pablo is her smart, sensible friend. They have a friend, Professor O'Brain who secretly builds her lab underneath the ice floor of Antarctica.

One day, they went to visit Prof O'Brain in her lab, only to find The TimeBender, the time travelling machine. They set on an adventure to rescue her after they learned what happened to the professor and her machine.

Funny things happened along the way. By courage, knowledge, determination, and a bit of silliness, the duo save the day!

🐧🐧

I had fun reading this graphic novel with a duo of penguins in action. Splash is so cute and is a fun penguin to be with. Pablo, on the other hand, is a smart and cautious penguin and that completes this friendship.

This book is fast-paced and uses simple dialogues. Kids will enjoy it because mine did. They even went boasting about how fast they finished compared to Mommy.

I love how Prof O'Brain explained the effect of machines on humans. It was presented on 1 page and I think the author tries to emphasize the point to the targeted readers.

Readers will also appreciate the facts contained in the end, not only on Ice Age Facts and Extinct Animals, but also on personalities like Splash and Pablo, and also how to draw the Pablo and Splash expressions.

Anyway, my youngest asked about the wormhole, the evolution of Neanderthals, and the usage of Cod here and there. Was hoping the explanation would be included to assist parents/teachers in explaining to their young readers.

Suit for readers who are into time travelling and cute penguins. Kudos to Sheena Dempsey for this delightful graphic novel.

Thank you @definitelybooks #Pansing this book is available at all good bookstores.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Graphic Novel
I received an electronic ARC from Bloomsbury USA Children's Books through NetGalley.
The penguins are back for more adventures with the TimeBender and Professor O'Brain. This Pablo and Splash need to rescue the professor after TimeBender strands her in the Ice Age. Readers travel along on this adventure and observe the environment and creatures that existed at that time. Dempsey weaves informative text with humor as the penguin duo finds ways to solve each problem they encounter. She also includes further information on the Ice Age after the story resolves. Mid-elementary readers will appreciate the artwork and the writing style.

[Amanda Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Personally, I don't love this one. The idea of using substitute swear words in a graphic novel meant for beginning readers ist just not my jam.

That said, I do think kids will like it. There's nothing quite so cool as the ice age. Particularly when it is reached through time travel. Particularly when that time travel is accomplished in a salty AI machine. The story ties in both science, and history. It even briefly hits on the theory of evolution as it applies to man. For some that will be a plus, and for some a minus, so there you go.

[Ashley Urquhart · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I liked this one even a little more than the first one! Pablo and Splash are a great duo and I enjoyed their contrasting personalities. There were genuinely a couple twists in this book that I didn’t see coming so those were enjoyable as well. My ONLY qualm is that they have a Time Machine so could they not have scheduled themselves to arrive right after Professor O’Brain was dropped off? Anyway, a very fun continuation of the series. My 6yo has already read it like three times.

Note: I received an early finished copy from Bloomsbury in exchange for an honest review.

[Christine LaBatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second Pablo and Splash graphic novel finds them traveling in time again, this time back to the Ice Age. I hadn't read the first one of these, so I was a little lost at the setup/premise. I wish it had given some sort of recap of the first book in case anyone picked this up who had not read the first one. I thought the story overall was cute and art is very much the style of right now.

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Roben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another zany Pablo and Splash adventure. This time they have to rescue Dr. O'Brain. The Time Bender abandons her in the Ice Age and Pablo and Splash are the only ones who can (hopefully) save her!

As always, there were drawing tips and interesting facts at the end. I learned that penguins sweat but they do not pee. Read books - learn awesome things.

[Grace Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

PABLO AND SPLASH frozen in time.
The thing I most like about PABLO AND SPLASH is that they are so adventures and how they have such silly day dreams and visions but most of all their friendship and their Banta. But most of all I love how they are always happy to lend a hand to their friends (or as the say lend a flipper).

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the first adventure, and this one didn’t disappoint! Travelling to the ice age to save the professor? Great work from the guys! I love that these have little tidbits of history and fact throughout the fun! And the illustrations are gorgeous too!

[Ing Swan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think it is good for children and funny for adults too. I’ll update this once my 5.5year old read and feedback.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed reading this story my nephew got.

[Evan Morrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved this book. Splash was my favourite

[Eva · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a amasing book about a time travelier and 2 penguins that go on adventures. It made me want to read the first book and the whole series.

[Mini bookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love it how they add so much detail and how it basically carries on from the first book. Also it is cool how professor obrian has learnt penguinese.

[Tanninsandtales · Rating 5 out of 5]

In theory, I'm much too old for this series. In reality, there's no such thing as too old for time-travelling penguins.

[Manic Booksy Dreamgirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fifty stars out of five, these books are so much fun. I really hope that this is a long running series so that I can read plenty more adventures of Pablo and Splash.

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rated by my 7 year old. ‘This book was really drippy’