One Cool Friend by Toni Buzzeo, illustrated by David Small (Dial Books for Young Readers/Penguin, 2012)
Here’s a story about “a very proper young man,” who looks a bit like a penguin, and a distracted father, who resembles a tortoise, who visit the aquarium, where a penguin is popped into a backpack. Children will laugh at the antics accompanied by good manners, and thrill at the thought of a penguin finding a new home in an apartment, with the air conditioner turned way down. When the father at last meets the stowaway in the bathtub, he asks, “Young man, where did this penguin come from?”
The southern tip of Argentina,” his son answers, before a perfectly happy and silly ending. Pick up a copy of One Cool Friend.
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