Penguin Problems (Life of Ty Series #1)

by Lauren Myracle, Jed Henry (Illustrator)

Overview

Meet Ty, a little guy with a big heart!
Winnie Perry’s sweet baby brother, Ty is full of awesome ideas and wacky plans that only a seven-year-old boy could hatch. Whether it’s battling the family cat with a Dustbuster or smuggling a baby penguin out of the aquarium, Ty is always in the middle of a well-intended, kind hearted scheme!

In the spirit of the Judy Moody spinoff Stink series, Ty will work his way into the hearts and funny bones of a whole new generation of Myracle fans.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780142423172
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	02/06/2014
Series:	Life of Ty Series , #1
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	540L (what's this?)
Age Range:	6 - 9 Years

About the Author

Lauren Myracle (www.laurenmyracle.com) is the bestselling and award-winning author of many novels for teens and tweens, including The Winnie Years series. Lauren received a master of fine arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College. She lives with her kiddos in Colorado.

It was a fortunate mix of ingredients that formed illustrator Jed Henry (jedhenry.tumblr.com). Barefoot summers on the Ohio River. Painting trips in the country with his mom. A few years spent roaming the streets of Tokyo. Jed thanks his lucky stars for all these experiences, and draws on them daily to flavor his books. When Jed illustrates, he's always surprised by what happens on the next page, and he hopes his readers are having just as much fun. Jed currently lives in the Rocky Mountains of Utah with his brilliant wife and two beautiful daughters.

Editorial Reviews

Skillfully blending comedy and poignancy, Myracle begins the Life of Ty series (a spinoff of her Winnie Years books), which spotlights Winnie’s seven-year-old brother, Ty, as he grapples with growing pains and change. His mother is preoccupied by his new baby sister (leading to feelings of displacement), his best friend has leukemia, and Ty himself yo-yos between two unreliable friends at school. Ty’s self-effacing, good-natured narration reveals his ricocheting emotions and insecurities: he is fascinated by his old pacifiers and afraid to let peers see him cry, but he also reacts maturely when a preschooler wets his pants in the boys’ room. In the story’s climax, Ty wanders off during an aquarium field trip and winds up stealing a baby penguin, convinced it wants to go home with him (in one of Henry’s loosely drawn spot cartoons, Ty reacts in horror as the penguin pees on a bathmat). Smack-dab on target with her plotting, characterization, and dialogue, Myracle again demonstrates her versatility as she ventures into early chapter books. Ages 6–9. Author’s agent: Barry Goldblatt, Barry Goldblatt Literary. Illustrator’s agent: Shannon Associates. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Gr 1–3—Ty's mom always drove him to school and walked him all the way to his classroom, but then his baby sister arrived. Now his oldest sister takes him to school and he has to walk in all by himself. But that's not all that has changed. His best friend, Joseph, is in the hospital, and his friend Lexie seems to prefer playing with Breezie. And worst of all, his mother forgot to pack him a Lunchable for the second-grade field trip to the Georgia Aquarium. When Ty wanders away from his class, he ends up in the closed penguin exhibit and manages to slip a baby penguin into his backpack. He sneaks it home and hides it in the bathtub until it is discovered by his sister Winnie. She solicits the assistance of their oldest sister to return the penguin to the aquarium. While Ty gets scolded for running off at the aquarium, he doesn't face any consequences for stealing the baby penguin. And, it's unclear how Winnie and Sandra are able to successfully return Pingy. Animated illustrations, some filling a full page, enhance this beginning chapter book. However, the book gets off to a slow start as the most exciting and interesting aspect of the story-the kidnapping of the baby penguin-doesn't occur until chapter eight. Nevertheless, this spin-off of Myracle's "Winnie Years" series (Dutton) will appeal to fans of other younger brothers like Megan McDonald's Stink Moody and Lois Lowry's Sam Krupnick.—Rachel Kamin, North Suburban Synagogue Beth El, Highland Park, IL

School Library Journal

The spinoff from the popular The Winnie Years series will offer a new, younger generation of Myracle fans the chance to enjoy the ups and downs of the Perry family. Seven-year-old Ty was the baby of the family until his little sister came along, and getting used to life with a demanding new baby around hasn't been easy. Desperate for his mother's attention and struggling with feelings of jealousy he's too young to understand, Ty begins to act out. Though the action doesn't really pick up until Ty makes it to the aquarium about a third of the way through the book, his escapades will entertain and endear Ty to readers. With its easily accessible language and engaging black-and-white illustrations, this book makes for a wonderful read-aloud, particularly for young children who are likely to be experiencing the same growing pains in their own homes. Early chapter-book readers, however, might be turned off by the fact that Ty often feels more like a 4- or 5-year-old than a "big guy" second-grader. Some might secretly relate to what Ty is going through (like rediscovering the comfort of a pacifier), but it's hard to imagine that most children capable of reading a book like this on their own wouldn't seek out a more mature protagonist. Still, Ty might hit the spot for certain kids in that liminal stage. (Fiction. 6-8)

Kirkus Reviews