Penguin in love by Salina Yoon

Bloomsbury, 2013. ISBN 9781408851203.
(Age: 3+) Penguins. Love. Resilience. This is the third in the series about a penguin, told with minimal but effective words, with big bold, brightly coloured illustrations about his adventures. The first, Penguin and Pinecone tells the tale of the two getting together, and having a whale of a time until it is time for Pinecone to leave the frozen north. The next, Penguin on vacation has the bird setting off on holiday at Pinecone's place.
Now the third shows how Penguin falls in love, after finding a knitted mitten in the snow. He asks questions about who might have knitted the garment. Meanwhile his friend, Bootsy is knitting cozies. Knitting keeps her lonely heart warm. Penguin knits mittens and beak covers for the birds, while Bootsy is asked by the whale for a sweater. This requires a huge amount of wool and when she looks into her basket she finds it is all gone. And so is Penguin's wool. Together they must find their wool.
Strands of wool line each page leading the two to each other and the adventure that is love.
A tale designed to warm the cockles of any reader's heart, the style of illustrations on each page will draw the eye to the large print and plain font above the boldly coloured illustrations. Each page is different making the reader work as they scan each page for details. Read aloud it will be a treat for younger readers, and for those able to read it themselves, will be full of interest and variety.
Fran Knight