Penguin and Pinecone by Salina Yoon

Bloomsbury, 2012. ISBN 9781 4088 2905 9.
(Ages 3+) Picture book. Friendship. Flagging the reason behind writing the book with its sub title, A friendship story, this unusual tale about a penguin finding a pinecone in the snow will intrigue younger readers. Pinecone becomes the penguin's friend and they do everything together, but Penguin is aware that Pinecone is not in his correct habitat, despite having made him a nice warm scarf. He is told that it is too cold for Pinecone, and so he makes preparations to take Pinecone back to his own home. This he does, leaving a trail of rocks in a heart shape around the place that he leaves Pinecone. Sometime later, Penguin returns to visit Pinecone and sees that he has grown into a big strong tree and the two remember each other and recall their friendship. But Penguin cannot stay there and so returns.
The overstated message is one to warm the hearts of the readers, and would be a simple text to initiate discussions in the classroom about friendship and loyalty, about the selflessness of love and the pleasure that it can bring.
Fran Knight