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Blue Penguin
A heart-warming fable about a friendship and belonging from the award-winning illustrator Petr Horacek. "I feel just like a penguin," says Blue Penguin. "But you're not like us," said the other penguins and they left him all alone. Poor Blue Penguin. Will he be able to convince the other penguins he is one of them after all? A moving and beautifully illustrated story from Petr Horacek, an illustrator described by the Washington Post as "the thinking tot's Eric Carle".Please ask if you need a specific version. The data provided here may not be correct. With buying and not asking you are accepting the book as is.
32 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2015
1 person is currently reading
88 people want to read
About the author
Petr Horáček
85 books69 followersPetr Horáček is the author-illustrator of Look Out, Suzy Goose and Silly Suzy Goose, as well as Run, Mouse, Run!; Bird, Fly High; A New House for Mouse; and Strawberries Are Red. He lives in England.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 88 reviews
February 18, 2017
Blue Penguin was left all alone. His days were filled with emptiness.
His nights were filled with dreams. There was one dream that came back night after night. In this dream, a beautiful white whale rescued Blue Penguin, taking him away from his lonely place.
Okay, I know what this book is trying to do. Blue Penguin is born a different color from all the other penguins. They question if he is even a real penguin.
"I feel like a penguin," said Blue Penguin.
He always catches big fish, which he thinks solidifies his penguin status.
"But you're not like us," said the other penguins, and they wandered away.
So Blue Penguin is all alone and sad, and that's when he starts having dreams about the white whale. 'Look sharp, all of ye! There are whales here-abouts! If ye see a white one, split your lungs for him!'
Oh, wait. Wrong book. :)
Now we start the problems. One of them is this whale Blue Penguin starts dreaming about. Another is how he turns into a sad little dramatic emo boy.
Blue Penguin made up a song about the white whale from his dream. Each morning, he sang it across the ocean.
You should see this image I have in my head. Singing your made up song about your white whale savior and going dramatically up a cliff to sing it across the sea all sad-like and all the penguins are listening to you!? Please. *rolls eyes*
Then, a little penguin wants to learn the fucking song. Each day she gets closer to approachingBlue Penguin Emo Boy. He teaches her the song, they play together and start being friends. Then,
Then one evening Blue Penguin turned to Little Penguin. "It's time we sing a new song," he said. "I will teach you."
Blue Penguin's new song was so magical that the other penguins came to listen. When he had finished, they went up to him. "Your song is so beautiful," they said. "Will you teach us to sing, too?"
Oh, gosh. SPARE ME. *gagging*
Then the white whale shows up, wondering who has been calling her.
Blue Penguin answered the white whale.
"It was I who called you. I dreamed of you and wished you would come to take me away from my loneliness."
Little Penguin looked sad.
"Don't leave," she said.
"You're my friend."
UGH.
The other penguins also ask him to stay and apologize for being dicks.
So the white whale leaves and Blue Penguin stays.
Blue Penguin turned to his friends.
"Now let us sing our new song," he said.
"Our song of friendship."
EL FIN
UGH. Just spare me this garbage. I don't know at all what the author was trying to address here. Racism? Transgender individual? Please. If so, this was a clumsy and awkward attempt. Lame. All it succeeded in doing was annoying me a lot and making me angry with both the jerk penguins and the little emo penguin who is SO annoying. Go out to the cliffs and sing your sad song you wrote about being all alone! People worship you for your musical and creative talent! They beg you to stay! What a load of crap.
Not sure what he would have done with the whale or where exactly she would have taken him, anyway. Was this a metaphor for committing suicide? I don't know.
The pictures are gorgeous, and in my opinion they are the only thing that saves this book from being one star.
I'm just NOT the person to try sappy, overwrought garbage out on. I love when children's books tackle big issues like racism and transgender rights. Red: A Crayon's Story is amazing, for instance. But if you go the route of trying to make me cry, #sorrynotsorry, you are OUT. Just get outta here with that shit.
I don't even know if this is what Petr Horáček was trying to get at, honestly. He says, "I had a friend who didn't quite fit in with others, and I found him rather inspiring." So... ???
Tl;dr - Too emo for me. I'm unsure of what was even the point of this book. I know cutesy, sappy penguin stories are all the rage now, but they just leave me cold. No pun intended. Great pictures.
His nights were filled with dreams. There was one dream that came back night after night. In this dream, a beautiful white whale rescued Blue Penguin, taking him away from his lonely place.
Okay, I know what this book is trying to do. Blue Penguin is born a different color from all the other penguins. They question if he is even a real penguin.
"I feel like a penguin," said Blue Penguin.
He always catches big fish, which he thinks solidifies his penguin status.
"But you're not like us," said the other penguins, and they wandered away.
So Blue Penguin is all alone and sad, and that's when he starts having dreams about the white whale. 'Look sharp, all of ye! There are whales here-abouts! If ye see a white one, split your lungs for him!'
Oh, wait. Wrong book. :)
Now we start the problems. One of them is this whale Blue Penguin starts dreaming about. Another is how he turns into a sad little dramatic emo boy.
Blue Penguin made up a song about the white whale from his dream. Each morning, he sang it across the ocean.
You should see this image I have in my head. Singing your made up song about your white whale savior and going dramatically up a cliff to sing it across the sea all sad-like and all the penguins are listening to you!? Please. *rolls eyes*
Then, a little penguin wants to learn the fucking song. Each day she gets closer to approaching
Then one evening Blue Penguin turned to Little Penguin. "It's time we sing a new song," he said. "I will teach you."
Blue Penguin's new song was so magical that the other penguins came to listen. When he had finished, they went up to him. "Your song is so beautiful," they said. "Will you teach us to sing, too?"
Oh, gosh. SPARE ME. *gagging*
Then the white whale shows up, wondering who has been calling her.
Blue Penguin answered the white whale.
"It was I who called you. I dreamed of you and wished you would come to take me away from my loneliness."
Little Penguin looked sad.
"Don't leave," she said.
"You're my friend."
UGH.
The other penguins also ask him to stay and apologize for being dicks.
So the white whale leaves and Blue Penguin stays.
Blue Penguin turned to his friends.
"Now let us sing our new song," he said.
"Our song of friendship."
EL FIN
UGH. Just spare me this garbage. I don't know at all what the author was trying to address here. Racism? Transgender individual? Please. If so, this was a clumsy and awkward attempt. Lame. All it succeeded in doing was annoying me a lot and making me angry with both the jerk penguins and the little emo penguin who is SO annoying. Go out to the cliffs and sing your sad song you wrote about being all alone! People worship you for your musical and creative talent! They beg you to stay! What a load of crap.
Not sure what he would have done with the whale or where exactly she would have taken him, anyway. Was this a metaphor for committing suicide? I don't know.
The pictures are gorgeous, and in my opinion they are the only thing that saves this book from being one star.
I'm just NOT the person to try sappy, overwrought garbage out on. I love when children's books tackle big issues like racism and transgender rights. Red: A Crayon's Story is amazing, for instance. But if you go the route of trying to make me cry, #sorrynotsorry, you are OUT. Just get outta here with that shit.
I don't even know if this is what Petr Horáček was trying to get at, honestly. He says, "I had a friend who didn't quite fit in with others, and I found him rather inspiring." So... ???
Tl;dr - Too emo for me. I'm unsure of what was even the point of this book. I know cutesy, sappy penguin stories are all the rage now, but they just leave me cold. No pun intended. Great pictures.
November 15, 2016
Down in the south, a new penguin was born. But this penguin was slightly different to all the others, for he was born blue. The other penguins didn’t know what to make of the penguin. He looked like them, dived and swam like them, but he was blue and white, not black and white like them, so they left him alone, and sad.
Every night the penguin would dream about a big whale coming to take him away from his lonely place. In the morning he would sing a song to the whale. Then another little penguin heard him sing and over time she made friends with the penguin. Then the other penguins heard his songs, and they wanted to be his friends too.
This book is the perfect tool to teach little children that although some people look slightly different, we are all humans, and no-one should be shunned for looking different.
The artistry is amazing, it can only be described as what looks like pastel drawings, which creates these beautiful, appealing pictures with an overtone of the biting antarctic winds.
It is a touching, inspirational story that would make the perfect bedtime story, or one for a teacher to read to their class.
Reviewed by Stacey at www.whisperingstories.com
Every night the penguin would dream about a big whale coming to take him away from his lonely place. In the morning he would sing a song to the whale. Then another little penguin heard him sing and over time she made friends with the penguin. Then the other penguins heard his songs, and they wanted to be his friends too.
This book is the perfect tool to teach little children that although some people look slightly different, we are all humans, and no-one should be shunned for looking different.
The artistry is amazing, it can only be described as what looks like pastel drawings, which creates these beautiful, appealing pictures with an overtone of the biting antarctic winds.
It is a touching, inspirational story that would make the perfect bedtime story, or one for a teacher to read to their class.
Reviewed by Stacey at www.whisperingstories.com
August 6, 2022
4 sterren - Nederlandse hardcover
Anders is niet altijd anders. Lees het zelf maar in dit prachtige prentenboek. We hebben ervan genoten. Maar Zhyvaya, mijn kleindochter, wil het nog niet naar een dependance doen. Ze wil het nogsteeds voorgelezen hebben.
Anders is niet altijd anders. Lees het zelf maar in dit prachtige prentenboek. We hebben ervan genoten. Maar Zhyvaya, mijn kleindochter, wil het nog niet naar een dependance doen. Ze wil het nogsteeds voorgelezen hebben.
September 6, 2019
Lovely story about a penguin who feels different from everyone else and how the kindness of one of the penguins makes him feel included and less lonely. The book has very calming illustrations with bright colours which are likely to appeal to young children. The book would be suitable to read to KS1 children and helps to spread the message of making sure everyone is included and no one feels left out or lonely. This could be read to the children at the beginning of a new school year or when a new child joins the class who could feel alone.
November 24, 2021
All I can say, is that my 1 year old loves pinguins.
October 4, 2017
My son loves this so much. I think he can relate a bit to the blue penguin cause we just moved to a new country. I think this book helped him to see that the "problem" didn't turn up only for him but for the blue penguin too. And that having to make new friends is just a natural part of childhood and you just have to keep at it.
January 26, 2018
I would've drop kicked the superficial (read: racist) penguin a-holes who'd ostracized me from their group for being different and left with the whale before making friends with them when they realised how awesome I was. But that's me. I felt bad even reading this sappy, pandering garbage to my niece.
If people don't appreciate who you are, go and find people who do.
If people don't appreciate who you are, go and find people who do.
February 12, 2020
Na de superleuke Moppereend was ik zeker in de bui voor meer boeken van deze illustrator. Hij heeft een hele originele stijl. Plus ik hou van pinguïns! Dus tja, dit boek moest mee. Het gaat over een kleine blauwe (ja, echt) pinguïn die wordt geboren bij alleen maar zwarte pinguïns. De zwarte pinguïns zijn best gemeen want ze hebben nooit een blauwe pinguïn gezien. Ik vond het zo sneu voor onze kleine blauwe pinguïn. Hij deed alles wat pinguïns doen... en toch werd hij niet geaccepteerd door zijn kolonie (ik vind de Engelse naam veel leuker: waddle). Die arme pinguïn. Maar gelukkig komt er toch nog iets goeds, ik ga lekker niets verklappen maar wat was ik er blij mee. Wat was dat zoet zeg. Ik zat gewoon helemaal aww te gaan. Al moet ik zeggen dat ik vond dat diegenen wel iets meer moeite mogen doen.
De illustraties zijn prachtig, je kunt er zoveel in ontdekken vooral in technieken.
Aanrader!
De illustraties zijn prachtig, je kunt er zoveel in ontdekken vooral in technieken.
Aanrader!
January 20, 2018
I love penguins n this was such an enjoyable book. Teaches that being different means different talents n skills. Shows why everyone is special in Their own way. Fantastic book.
December 6, 2018
I first read this book in Spanish. I like it even more in English, probably because I understood it a lot better. I got emotional reading it this time. I think Alena enjoyed it more in English too.
September 8, 2019
Difference finds gradual acceptance and satisfaction. Could be good for teaching patience, losing oneself in art, and that dreams can change.
January 2, 2019
A cute book about fitting in while being different.
January 1, 2022
One day a blue penguin is born, but the other penguins leave him alone as he is different. Feeling all alone blue penguin has a dream about a white whale and makes up a song about it. Over time a female penguin hears it and the blue penguin teaches her the song. They become friends and when the mystical white whale arrives everything has changed for blue penguin. The illustrations in this book are so wonderfully wintery and you can really imagine the icy blast of the arctic and the penguins huddled around. Beautiful!
April 20, 2017
Too melancholy and random, and unremarkable in the diverse field of children's penguin/friendship tales in my opinion. The illustrations were also a bit uneven, blurry, and difficult to look at. Try "Flight School" by Lita Judge, "Penguin Problems" by Jory John, or Salina Yoon's Penguin series instead.
January 14, 2019
I just don't see the attraction of this book. The pictures are cluttered and funky, the story line is just sad to begin with, then jacked up at the end. The message I got is that when people dislike you because you're different, you just have to show them what talent you have to fit in. Um, okay?? Not really a message I want to send to children. I don't recommend this one.
February 1, 2017
A story about friendship, belonging, and acceptance. Illustrations were okay. The writing was pretty bland. I really hated the font that the actual text is written in, like it made me cringe to look at it.
December 3, 2018
The illustrations in this book are unique and very nice. It was fun to read the story to Alena in Spanish and then translate for her. Sweet story. I wonder if I would like it as much in English. Probably.
February 19, 2016
Geslaagde collages, maar weinig origineel verhaal.
September 18, 2019
This story is all about friendship and inclusion as the little blue penguin was left out by the other penguins at the beginning as he was different to them. However, one other penguin herd him singing and found him, where they played together and he taught her his song. Then the other penguins join them and become the blue penguin’s friends too, feeling bad for how they excluded the blue penguin before. This book would be good for PSHE when discussing friendship and children could hot seat the blue penguin to find out how he felt. Some children could also relate to his experience. It would be suitable for children from FS to Year 3. The story is accompanied by lovely colourful illustrations which children would enjoy.
November 15, 2023
Don't judge a penguin by the color of his skin. Not a bad message for today's toddlers. (Or grownups.) Ummmm. (Or humans with serious implicit bias.)
The name of this book's hero, "Blue Penguin," gives us a clue. This penguin looks different. His fellow penguins abandon him for that reason.
Yet Blue Penguin winds up singing, to bring joy to others. Eventually his fellow penguins accept him.
RATING THIS PICTURE BOOK
The intended readers will no doubt find this a lovely fable. About friendship!
On that basis, I'll give this fantasy tale FIVE STARS.
As for my personal thoughts on this book, which I strongly disliked, see COMMENTS below.
The name of this book's hero, "Blue Penguin," gives us a clue. This penguin looks different. His fellow penguins abandon him for that reason.
Yet Blue Penguin winds up singing, to bring joy to others. Eventually his fellow penguins accept him.
RATING THIS PICTURE BOOK
The intended readers will no doubt find this a lovely fable. About friendship!
On that basis, I'll give this fantasy tale FIVE STARS.
As for my personal thoughts on this book, which I strongly disliked, see COMMENTS below.
January 29, 2018
Story about a lonely, little penguin who can't make friends with the other penguins because he is different (he's blue). He starts singing the song of a white whale, hoping it will take him away from his loneliness, and another little penguin hears him sing. Eventually all of the penguins learn of his talent, and are sorry they treated him badly because he was different. Beautiful illustrations.
July 31, 2023
Kniha se nám líbila velmi, ilustrace i text. Přáli jsme si, aby velryba připlula. Přáli jsme si, aby v ústrety zazpívala tučňákovi v odpověď svoji krásnou velrybí píseň. Přáli jsme si, aby modrý tučňák našel přítele. Přáli jsme si najít v knize nebo složit tučňákovy písničky. Přáli jsme si, aby se velryba vracela a navštěvovala tučňáky nadále, přátelila se s nimi. Přáli jsme si číst knihu ještě jednou.
May 24, 2017
A blue penguin is born in the South Pole, but the other penguins aren't very welcoming. The blue penguin eventually wins them over, which makes for a happy ending but I think the big draw here are the mixed media illustrations. The story reminded me a little of Tacky the Penguin and I think that story is just more my style.
PreK-2.
PreK-2.
April 10, 2021
I really enjoyed this story. Many readers seem to dislike it due to its perceived simplistic view of racism. It possibly is. But as a story it has a slight magical, fairy tale quality that attracts. No book can do everything and solve all problems. Every child should have plenty of stories of all types offered to them. I think this book could happily be one of them.
May 31, 2022
Petr read this to us at The Hay Festival 2022. He told us that he'd been drawing at his friends house in the woods. He didn't realise at the time but his black colour had rolled off the table so he didn't have penguin colour and used blue instead. It's a charming tale of friendship and community, celebrating differences in a very subtle way.
November 14, 2018
Summary: Blue Penguin feels alone because the other penguin don't think that he's normal. I mean, he's blue!
Review: This book was fine. I will probably forget that I read it as soon as I finish this review.
Review: This book was fine. I will probably forget that I read it as soon as I finish this review.
May 13, 2019
Verhaal over een pinguïn die anders is dan de andere pinguïns. Daarom wordt hij door hen alleen gelaten. De blauwe pinguïn is erg eenzaam, maar dan droomt hij over het lied van een walvis... Boek met mooie illustraties, verhaal ietwat klef, maar nog wel ok.
February 12, 2020
Nádherné, nádherné ilustrace/obrázky/obrazy - díky nim je ta kniha prostě neopakovatelná. Textu je v ní maličko a je to taková ta velká myšlenka o samotě a sounáležitosti, ale fajn. Noale ty obrazy! Bych si to vyvěsila všude doma💚
March 8, 2020
A beautiful story that I really enjoyed, about a penguin who is different from the rest. This book would lend itself really well to some PSHE work on diversity and acceptance of people's differences.
July 26, 2022
This penguin is different because he's blue so he is initially rejected. A kind penguin befriends him and appreciates him. Then the rest of the penguins hear his beautiful song and say they want to include him.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 88 reviews