Penguin Problems

by Jory John, Lane Smith (Illustrator)

Overview

Have you ever thought: I have so many problems and nobody even cares? Well, penguins have problems too! Discover them in this hilarious collaboration from Jory John (All my friends are dead. and Quit Calling Me a Monster!) and Lane Smith (The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales)!
 
This penguin has come to tell you that life in Antarctica is no paradise. For starters, it is FREEZING. Also, penguins have a ton of natural predators. Plus, can you imagine trying to find your mom in a big ol’ crowd of identical penguins? No, thank you.
 
Yes, it seems there is no escaping the drudgery of your daily grind, whatever it might be. Or perhaps we’ve just learned that grumps are everywhere. . . . 
 
This book is sure to tickle kids’ funny bones and will elicit appreciative sighs from the adults reading it aloud.
 
"We are all Mortimer [the main character in Penguin Problems]." —The New York Times

“Bursting with humor.” —Kirkus Reviews
 
“The snark level is cranked up high.” —The Horn Book, Starred
 
“Will be right at home with fans of Jon Klassen’s This Is Not My Hat.” —Booklist
 
“Classic comedy.” —Publishers Weekly
 
“Rib-tickling.” —School Library Journal

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780553513370
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	09/27/2016
Series:	Animal Problems
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	60,321
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 11.20(h) x 1.50(d)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

JORY JOHN is the author of the picture books I Will Chomp You!, Quit Calling Me a Monster!, and the E.B. White Read-Aloud Honor Book Goodnight Already!. He is the co-author of the New York Times bestselling novel, The Terrible Two, and the national bestseller All my friends are dead, among many other books. He is also the editor of Thanks and Have Fun Running the Country: Kids' Letters to President Obama. For six years, Jory taught writing at 826 Valencia, a nonprofit writing and educational center in San Francisco.
 
LANE SMITH has written and illustrated a number of novels and picture books for children, including two Caldecott Honor titles and four New York Times Best Illustrated Book awards. He was a 2014 recipient of a Society of Illustrators Lifetime Achievement Award and was named an Honor Artist by the Eric Carle Museum. He lives with his wife, book designer Molly Leach, in rural Connecticut.

Editorial Reviews

…funny and acerbic…[with] Lane Smith's evocative illustrations of endless cold, frightful inky depths and the spartan beauty of Antarctic mountain peaks.

The New York Times Book Review - Michael Ian Black

06/13/2016
Being a penguin is no day at the park: “It’s way too early. My beak is cold. What’s with all the squawking, you guys?” John’s bumbling, bleary-eyed penguin has a hard time on land, and the ocean depths are even worse: “Oh, great. A leopard seal. Oh, great. A shark.... What is it with this place?” Then there’s the matter of parents: “Mom?” the penguin asks another penguin near a crowd of look-alike penguins. “I literally have no idea who you are,” the other penguin replies. Just when things look hopeless, a passing walrus offers a comforting (if long-winded) sermon, and the penguin gets a moment of respite from his angst. John (I Love You Already) delivers a rat-a-tat series of laughs, and Smith’s (There Is a Tribe of Kids) mottled, minimalist polar landscapes highlight the penguin’s awkward moments. His story is classic comedy, an examination of the delicate balancing act between total despair (“I have so many problems! And nobody even cares!” the penguin cries) and the resolve to stumble on. Ages 3–7. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"Funny and acerbic." —The New York Times

"Hilarious and filled with super-stylish illustrations, it's sure to tickle your funny bone." —Little London Magazine

"Misanthropic penguins make for comedy gold." —School Library Journal

"This penguin is ... basically Larry David in Antarctica! Who wouldn't love that?" — The New York Post

"This book is hilarious." —The Clarion-Ledger

"Stunningly beautiful." —Read Brightly

"Hilarious." — The London Evening Standard

"Picture book masterpiece." — Nerdy Book Club

From the Publisher

08/01/2016
PreS-Gr 2—It's not easy being a penguin. As a world-weary avian narrator points out, there's plenty that can (and does) go wrong: "My beak is cold." "It snowed some more last night, and I don't even like the snow." "The ocean smells too salty today." An even chillier fishing expedition does not improve his demeanor: "Oh, great. An orca. Oh, great. A leopard seal. Oh, great. A shark. What is it with this place?" Smith's sponge-textured illustrations expand upon the text's downbeat doldrums with visual humor and delightfully deadpan facial expressions. Still hungry, the penguin pulls out of the water just before being gulped down by the bigger seal (which is about to be consumed by the even larger shark, about to be swallowed by the huge orca). His melancholy monologue continues until a stately walrus catches his attention and delivers a wise (and lengthy and slightly bombastic) oration about appreciating the good things in life. Grudgingly, Penguin embraces a new perspective. He sits on a pristine peak, gazes at gracefully falling flurries, and muses, "Maybe things will work out, after all"—or not (the page turn reveals that the gentle snowflakes have turned into a full-fledged storm and Penguin has resumed his grousing). This sublime pairing of author and artist results in a rib-tickling exploration of what it means to look at the unsunny side. VERDICT Share this book with Claire Messer's Grumpy Pants for a storytime starring persnickety penguins.—Joy Fleishhacker, School Library Journal

School Library Journal

★ 2016-06-22
Being a penguin isn't all it's cracked up to be in John and Smith's debut collaboration.A small penguin sleeping on a snow mound reluctantly wakes up, instantly exasperated with everything. Bemoaning the cold, the snow, and other things readers might take for granted as penguin pleasures, the protagonist heads off to begin a day full of one downer after another. The fish the penguin would like to eat for breakfast are disobliging about being caught; the ocean is too salty and cold, and it is inconveniently full of predators; and even the smallest things about being a penguin (waddling, flightlessness, and looking exactly like everyone else) are intolerably irritating. Increasingly outraged by a litany of injustices worthy of Judith Viorst's classic grump Alexander, the penguin is offered a more balanced if somewhat lofty perspective by a walrus who suggests that, difficulties notwithstanding, the penguin is surrounded by beauty and love. Smith's singular visual characterization follows through on John's ironic humor throughout the narrative, and though both the visual and textual fall momentarily and appropriately flat when the walrus' speech takes over an entire page, the penguin, who concedes the walrus' point, nevertheless gets the last word in an admirable and important validation of personal feelings, grumbles and all. Well-paced, bursting with humor, and charmingly misanthropic. (Picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews