Jules, Penny & the Rooster

by Daniel Pinkwater

Internationally bestselling author Daniel Pinkwater (The Big Orange Splot) brings his zany wit and wisdom to the magical adventures of a clever girl and her brave dog. Told with warmth and wit, this is a delightful exploration of growing up, the power of family, and how sometimes the best things in life happen when you least expect them.

Jules McShultz was promised a dog. Supposedly, she’d get one once her family moved from the city to the suburbs. But then her parents decided it still wasn’t the right time.

So Jules does what any intelligent girl would do. Instead of sulking, she enters an essay contest and wins first prize: A purebred Collie. And no one—not even Jules’s parents—can resist Penny, who is Jules’s perfect new canine pal.

Jules and Penny are ready to spend the summer exploring the woods by the house. But the woods are not at all what they seem to be. Magic and adventure await them just on the other side of an old stone wall.

Genres: Middle Grade, Fantasy, Childrens

160 pages, Paperback

First published March 11, 2025

About the author

Daniel Manus Pinkwater is an author of mostly children's books and is an occasional commentator on National Public Radio. He attended Bard College. Well-known books include Lizard Music, The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death, Fat Men from Space, Borgel, and the picture book The Big Orange Splot. Pinkwater has also illustrated many of his books in the past, although for more recent works that task has passed to his wife Jill Pinkwater.

Reviews

[Jim Windisch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ever since grabbing a copy of Fat Men from Space off the shelves of my elementary school library many years ago, I have been a dedicated fan of Daniel Pinkwater’s work. Jules, Penny, and the Rooster delivers more of what I love about his work: an intelligent protagonist, an implausible adventure, and plenty of humor.

Jules, a city girl adjusting to life in a seemingly dull suburban subdivision, wins a Collie named Penny in a newspaper essay contest. While exploring the outskirts of her neighborhood, she stumbles upon an enchanted forest teeming with oddball characters, including a witch and dancing fairies. But this magical world is in danger, and with the help of Penny and a magical rooster, Jules embarks on a quest to find the one item that can save the forest.

This book has all the elements that make Pinkwater’s stories so fun to read. Jules fits the mold of a classic Pinkwater protagonist—sharp, slightly skeptical, and caught up in a bizarre but oddly logical adventure. The story is fast-paced and easy to read while still featuring interesting vocabulary and cultural references that add depth. The quirky characters and crazy adventure are exactly what I expect from a Daniel Pinkwater book.

One thing I wondered about was how well young readers would connect with certain aspects of the book. The idea of a newspaper essay contest, for example, feels quite old-fashioned. However, I don’t think it would be a Pinkwater book without a few anachronisms. They add to the charm rather than detract from the story.

I think Jules, Penny, and the Rooster can be the same sort of almost too strange to exist touchstone in a kid’s life that Fat Men from Space was for me. Daniel Pinkwater’s longtime fans will enjoy this, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it earns him some new fans, too!

Note: I was provided with an advanced reader's copy through the author's social media accounts.

[Marnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a strange little book. I did not care for Pinkwater's writing style - it's quite choppy, and almost sarcastic. The girl, Jules, is quite sure of what she wants, and accepts the magical without question. and is aided by her like-minded aunt. The mystery they have to solve is simple and is taken care of with little need for much perseverance or growth.
I wanted to love the book because of the collie...but I wouldn't recommend it.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

[Gloria Granger · Rating 4 out of 5]

I randomly stumbled upon this book and started reading it immediately cause it looked cool, and it didn't disappoint. It was a really fun reading experience, just the quirky, adventurous, funny book I needed. I liked the writing style, I think it's really refreshing and it kept me interested the whole time. I will definitely check out other books by Daniel Pinkwater.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

The odd phrasing and cadence of Daniel Pinkwater’s writing throughout this story made it a quick, enjoyable, and witty read. What begins as predictable and familiar, steadily turns to surprising and magical.
Cute story.

[Krissy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's always a happy day when I get to read a new Daniel Pinkwater book. This one, I think, was about average. Fun and actually very sweet, but not as wacky as I prefer.
But it was so satisfying to see Howling Frog and Heinz, the butler, in this one. I don't know if these are the same Howling Frog and Heinz from the Snarkout Boys books, but I hope so.
Daniel Manus Pinkwater is a National treasure, and I adore his work.

[Heidi Burkhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Pinkwater's books! They are quirky and filled with humor and imagination. My first read by Pinkwater was Lizard Music. It is fabulous and I was instantly a huge fan of him.

I was so happy to see and read this book because it is pure PInkwater, and lovely to have a romp through another of his wonderful stories.

[Educopoly UK]

Best Books for Children's

[Hal Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know even less about Jill Pinkwater’s life than I do about Daniel M. Pinkwater's. Jill married Daniel, I got that. She likes animals. “All creatures like her, even ones that are unlike her” (asserts the dedication to Bear and Bunny). Oh, and Daniel M. Pinkwater mentions in Uncle Boris in the Yukon that when she was young Jill won a collie named Penny in an essay contest. Do you see where I’m going with this?

In this, the first Daniel M. Pinkwater book since Jill Pinkwater passed away in 2002, DMP has quite obviously turned to mythologizing his wife’s childhood. I don’t know how far this goes (and it can only go so far, the book being what it is) but in some way at least redheaded Jules is just a mispronunciation of redheaded Jill. Jules wins a collie in an essay contest. Then she’s off to the woods for the most rural of rural adventures. Witches and prophesies. It’s the DMP monomyth again, and there are many commonalities that run through this book all the way back to his ’70s novels: a quirky bookstore and a move to the suburbs. Presumably because the narrator’s gender is reversed (from the all-boy ’70s), this book features an eccentric aunt rather than an eccentric uncle, and a rooster instead of a chicken.

Perhaps significantly, this is the first DMP book in a quarter century (since Robert Nifkin) to lack illustrations.

The most ostentatious change is in the moment of transcendence. Jules experiences a taste of it early in the book, when a faun puts her to sleep. And then…does it return? Does Jules ever attain “the blessings of enlightenment”? The rooster crows, and Jules sees colors and has some sort of experience, but the one that awakens is the turtle.

I’ve said before that DMP’s later books are more benign than his earlier ones. Adults are more competent; relatives are more helpful; there are fewer outright frauds. Borgel marks the last time a character must literally, as Robert Nifkin the last time a character must figuratively, collect dead skunks to survive. (Bushman! is again an outlier, but only partially). If the forbidden forest represents the desideratum—Waka Waka or Kukumlima or Diamond Hard or Gunungan Heaven—well, Jules is the only character who gets to stay there. And at the very end she gets her second glimpse of the soporific faun.

I’ve never written a book about a woman I loved who died. I don’t know how difficult it is or is not to assign a transcendent moment to someone else. But I can read a metaphor. Enjoy the forest, Jules.