His Heart Leads The Way

Some fictional characters, like their human counterparts, no matter their age look at their world with curiosity and hope.  Seeing something new on a daily walk, exploring a place away from home or looking for love, can fill your days with delight if your heart is open and your spirit in generous.  Treasures are waiting to be found, if you look with the right kind of eyes.

Sometimes, seemingly disparate things can have an important connection. Let's look at a pinecone, a crab and yarn.  What these three items have in common is a very special character created by author illustrator, Salina Yoon.  In October of 2012 she introduced us to Penguin in Penguin and Pinecone; a story of an endearing friendship, of a love which grows and spreads.

This year we lucky readers have two new titles featuring this huggable, lovable bird.  In April, perfect for our summer months, Penguin on Vacation (Walker Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Bloomsbury) arrived.  Our friend decides he needs a change of scenery.

"I need a vacation."
Penguin sighed.
Snow again?

I'll wager many people in the northern climates, especially in the last few weeks, can identify with Penguin.  He feels like he's exhausted all previous snowy activities of skiing, sledding and skating.  This feathered creature craves sun and sand.

Suitcase by his side, beach ball in his flippers, he travels by floe to the beach of his dreams only to discover it's not quite what he expected.  Hazards such as sea shells, coconuts and hot sand make exploring a bit difficult.  His favorite pastimes of skiing, sledding and skating don't work as well or not at all.

A little red pal appears ready to acquaint Penguin with the finer points of vacationing at the beach.  Crab knows all about creating castles, climbing palm trees, and surfing.  Penguin can't believe his good fortune found with his new friend.

We all know vacations must come to an end.  Reluctantly Penguin begins the long float home.  Startled by a movement in the water, the return trip reveals exciting new possibilities.  Penguin is able to return many kindnesses and the gift of a tiny scarf and tiny mittens. Another return makes an appearance by the book's end to the delight of more than one penguin.


In the simple sentences telling this tale, Salina Yoon conveys thoughts and emotions but most importantly the presence of innocence.  Both Penguin and Crab are eager to extend the hand of friendship to one another, unencumbered by any assumptions.  The main narrative is broadened with the smaller text; additional thoughts and exclamations by the characters.  You can tell Yoon loves playing with words giving a cadence to some of her sentences.  She also likes to include a wee bit of humor.  Here are a couple of examples.

Ninety-nine balls of snow on the ground...

They whooshed and pushed.
They fished and wished.


When opening up the cover of this title, Salina Yoon gives you hints about how the story will unfold picturing Penguin's arrival at the beach with Crab on the sand, the back cover showing the conch shell, an important element to the story.  The beginning endpapers are diagonally lined with multiple Crabs, red on pale yellow.  On the back endpapers he is still there, clad now in Penguin's newly knitted gifts.

To accentuate the narrative flow, illustrations vary in size from two pages, to single pages, small cutouts on pure white backgrounds, and single pages framed in her signature heavy black lines surrounded by white space.  With only black dots for eyes, Yoon still conveys her characters personalities with warmth and conviction.  The tiniest of details add to the book's charm; Penguin's beach outfit, Crab's beach bag used in travel and Penguin pulling Crab on a spare skate as if he is a skier behind a boat.  My favorite illustration is of the two of them drinking from the same coconut, using long straws, lying on their respective beach towels and wearing sunglasses.


Less than ten days ago Penguin in Love (Walker Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Bloomsbury) could be found in bookstores.  As in the first title, Penguin comes across an unexpected item.  It begins an interesting chain of events.

One day, Penguin was looking for love.
What's this?
Instead, he found...

It looks like a mitten but there are no signs from where it might have come.  Grandpa (It's great that Grandpa has a part in all the books.) and several others penguins say it is not their mitten, although they are missing other things.  What Penguin does not know is his friend, Bootsy from Penguin and Pinecone, is busily knitting cozies on the other end of the ice.

Like Penguin, Bootsy knits with purpose, to help others and fill her solitary heart.  To Penguin's surprise two puffins land near him and his latest knitting project, a partner for the sole mitten.  Guess what?  It's not a mitten but a bill cozy which the puffin is thankful to receive.

Those two puffins, a match made in heaven, have a plan.  Penguin's yarn disappears.  Bootsy's yarn vanishes.  In searching for their yarn, Penguin and Bootsy meet again.  They have a mystery to solve, though.  A line of clues have been left for them.

Following these trails of yarn, the two knit and knit and knit and knit, binding themselves together in warmth, fun, comfort and kindness until a terrible storm separates the two.  All they have left are their individual clues.  It's not easy but they discover the greatest adventure of all waits.


When you read the first sentence of this narrative, you are completely captivated.  You imagine how Salina Yoon might have Penguin find love.  It's interesting how she uses her sentences like a knitter uses yarn, stringing them together, in and out, over and under, having Penguin and Bootsy follow paths to each other creating the best kind of garment for warmth, love.  Additional interest is added in this title with the introduction of the puffins, other penguins by name, the seal pup and the whale. Again we see the playful nature of Yoon in the song sung by her characters out at sea. The final three pages of text are guaranteed to create a sigh, a glow lighting every reader's heart.


As she did in the previous title, the opened cover provides foreshadowing; the heart-shaped ice floe, the yarn making a letter o and the needles making a letter x on the front.  The tip of the ice extends to the back with the two puffins looking forward at Penguin, a heart drawn in the snow reading P + B.  On both the starting and closing endpapers on a white background are lines of brightly-colored yarn, making loops and hearts.

You have to smile at the inclusion of a telescope in Penguin's flippers when he is looking for love and the magnifying glass he holds examining the single mitten.  Another delightful interpretation by Yoon is when Penguin lays out a sign for Bootsy to find; he spells her name in yarn with a knitted bow crossing the t and a heart woven into the tail of the y.  As in the other titles, cheerful colors sparkle on every page with the white backgrounds and bold black lines lifting them into view. My favorite illustration spreads across the bottom of two pages; in a line are the whale, two puffins on an ice floe, and the seal pup on a floe too with the heart-shaped floe in the lead, occupied by Penguin and Bootsy as all are singing.


Penguin on Vacation and Penguin in Love written and illustrated by the very talented Salina Yoon are charming with a capital C.  You can't help but fall in love with Penguin and his friends as they enjoy each other's company.  All of these books are first and foremost to be enjoyed but think of the wonderful conversations you can have about friendship.  Share them with as many people as you can, repeatedly with joy.

Friendship Found, Friendship Grown

Walking through rows of pines, perhaps planted during the days of the Civilian Conservation Corps, in any season is one of my favorite hikes to take, not only for the gentle whispering among those quiet sentinels but for the possibility of finding the perfect pinecone.  Leftover from years of making wreaths, a craft started in scouting, is the treasure hunter's eye, seeking unique shapes and sizes.  Tucked away too, in my storyteller's mind, is the tale of the woman gathering pinecones to sell as fuel, raising money for food for her family.  I am wondering if the elusive man from legend will turn one of my finds into silver as he did hers.

When you unexpectedly discover something for which you've been searching, the joy in the moment is swift and overwhelming, flooding all your senses.  Coming upon something new, something you've never seen before, triggers a different response, one loaded with questions.  In Penguin and Pinecone: a friendship story (Walker & Company) written and illustrated by Salina Yoon the questions asked and answered lead to surprising but truly touching results.

 One day, Penguin found a curious object.
     What's this?

Nestled in the snow is a single pine cone.  After a series of trials and errors, Penguin knows it is not a snowball, food or an egg.  What he does discover is this object is cold.

Immediately the reader can see into the heart of Penguin.  Knowing his new found treasure is chilly he knits him  a scarf; a scarf the same as his.  Now they can romp, roll and frolic until... it sneezes.

Grandpa explains to Penguin, Pinecone will never realize his potential in their frozen home.  Many, many miles away is where Pinecone needs to be.  As much as he loves his companionship, Penguin knows he needs to get his friend to the forest.

Sled packed, pulling through swift winds and swirling snow, Penguin holds tight to his pal, determination in his every step.  With the forest found, a needle nest on the ground, Penguin leaves the warm day and his best bud.  Time passes but the memory of the love between the two does not fade.

With an overwhelming desire to know how his friend has fared, Penguin treks toward the warmer clime.  Love, once planted, knows not of endings only beginnings.  It has plans of it's own.


Given that pinecones and penguins are found in opposite parts of the world, Salina Yoon takes the improbable, mixes in a little magic, and forms an enduring relationship which not only thrives but multiplies.  Her simple sentences using the right words invite even the earliest readers to be participants.  But least you think the spare text implies a simple story, the ending is wise and wonderful.


How can you not become attached to a penguin as cute as the one on the cover with his roly-poly dimensions, sporting the orange scarf to ward off the chill?  Opening and closing endpapers, white, feature small pinecones scattered across the pages.  The title page highlights an illustration from within the story, Penguin lying on pine needles in the shape of a heart.

Heavy black outlines make the pictures pop against the simple, cool white and blue backgrounds when in the frozen south and against the pale yellows, greens and browns of the northern forest.  By alternating the size of the visuals, across two pages, a single page, several smaller ones on a page, zooming in and out and some framed with the black line, Yoon controls pacing, enhances her narrative and reaches out to readers, tying them emotionally to the story.  One example is the two pages picturing the words:

"Good-bye, Pinecone.  You will always be in my heart.

Yoon has the reader looking down on the scene of Pinecone resting in the bed of pine needles surrounded by rocks in the shape of a heart.  Above the heart three sticks form the letter "I", beneath it small twigs form the letter "U".  Penguin looks on holding his scarf.


Salina Yoon in writing and illustrating Penguin and Pinecone: a friendship story gives readers of all ages a fresh new look at the ripple effect of love.  Pair this charming book with Boy + Bot by Ame Dyckman with illustrations by Dan Yaccarino or with Cece Bell's 2013 Geisel Honor award winning, Rabbit and Robot: The Sleepover.  Other good matches would be One Cool Friend by Toni Buzzeo with illustrations by David Small (Caldecott Honor award 2013), Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers or Tony Baloney by Pam Munoz Ryan with illustrations by Edwin Fotheringham.

The link embedded in Salina Yoon's name is to her website.  For further unlikely adventures follow the link to Penguin's blog (adorable) enbedded in the title above.  And for making a pinecone penguin go to this link.  Penguin will be having further adventures in a new title, Penguin on Vacation.  Have fun!