Though not quite the elephant-folio size of Almost Everything (2005) and Zoo-ology (2003), this new Jolivet still probably won’t fit into most oversize sections—but it should be just as popular with children. Slipping several math problems into his narrative, Fromental saddles an unsuspecting family with the daily arrival of a new penguin in the mail. The charm wears away as the weeks and months pass, however, and the smell of old fish (etcetera!) begins to become as compelling an issue as the overcrowding. Using a limited palette of mostly blue, bright orange and black, Jolivet creates lively silk-screened scenes featuring frantic family members struggling to cope with increasing flocks of small, toy-like, irresistibly cute penguins. At last, New Year’s Eve arrives, as does Uncle Victor the ecologist, who explains that he’s engaged in an effort to shift the beleaguered (though not endangered there, despite his claim) birds from the South to the North Pole in hopes of giving them a better chance of survival. Off he drives with the lot (except one), but then the next day brings a bigger box, with a considerably more problematic resident. A comic episode equally suited to sharing with one child or a lunchroom full of children. (Picture book. 6-8)
