10 LITTLE PENGUINS
By Jean-Luc Fromental , Joëlle Jolivet , Amanda Katz
Age Range: 4 - 8
Ten little penguins bowling (one bowls; the others are set up like ninepins) count down to one little penguin heading off to Valparaiso in this wee and winsome (and ever-so-slightly ghoulish) counting pop-up. Jolivet’s striking graphic style, usually in oversized display (365 Penguins, also written by Fromental, 2006), adapts well to the engineered tableaux. Judiciously applied pull-tabs provide extra action. An igloo melts over one penguin chef cooking at a terraced restaurant; a trap door opens under another while it’s skating with its fellows. A third even explodes (!) when it gobbles krill too fast. Lest readers be concerned at these and other dire Looney Tunes–style tragedies, there’s one more surprise that finds all 10 back in business. The tab engineering works so well and smoothly that children will delight in counting these penguins out over and over again. (Pop-up. 4-8)