cover image Penguin and Pumpkin

Penguin and Pumpkin

Salina Yoon. Walker, $14.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-8027-3732-8

In Yoon’s fourth book about Penguin, the affable bird and his posse travel onboard a piece of ice to see what fall looks like away from the cold and snow. But Penguin’s younger brother, Pumpkin, is too young to come along: “I’m sorry, Pumpkin. But it’s too far for a fledgling,” Penguin tells him. Once the penguins arrive on a distant farm filled with pumpkins, they collect a harvest bounty, including leaves and pumpkins of all different shapes and sizes. After floating back home in one of the giant hollowed-out gourds, the travelers share their experience and goods with loved ones, including Pumpkin, who imagined autumn in locales as far-flung as outer space during his brother’s absence. As in the previous books, Yoon creates an idiosyncratic cartoon world of heavy outlines and flat pools of color. Her squat, chunky penguins and their quirky adventures should find a sweet spot with toddlers. Ages 3–6. (July)