The second sky by Patrick Guest and Jonathan Bentley

Little Hare Books, 2017. ISBN 9781760127985
Pat Guest is at his least verbal and most powerful in his latest picture book, The second sky.
Gilbert's desiring begins the instant he... 'peeked out from his egg and saw the sky for the first time.' Henceforth, the baby penguin is always looking up and aspiring to inhabit that space shared by the moon, stars and seabirds.
He is singularly persistent, changing tactics when necessary and ignoring naysayers, until finally his failure is spectacularly immutable. But at rock bottom, Gilbert's perspective is altered. His natural penguin strengths permit him all the beauty, weightlessness and freedom he originally sought in the sky.
Jonathan Bentley's blue toned watercolours are the melody for Patrick's lyrics and somehow reminiscent of David Armitage's cheerier Lighthouse keeper's lunch illustrations. This new literary partnership, should be as loudly lauded as that classic penned by Ronda Armitage. A quality literary addition to every Junior Fiction collection.
Deborah Robins