Magdalena Ball review

Magdalena Ball review, originally uploaded by kymlardner.

It’s a fairly common theme in children’s books, but one which can’t really be repeated too often. It’s okay to be different. It’s more than okay to be different – difference is something to be enjoyed, celebrated and shared. Kym Lardner’s new book The Naked Penguin, presents that theme with an ever-popular penguin setting. Little penguin is cute as can be, but he’s different from the other penguins, because he doesn’t have a white chest. Because he’s different, he’s left out of other penguin games, until he suddenly accepts his own difference, and then guess who joins in.

It isn’t the other penguins who change in this book, it’s little penguin, and the move from “leave him behind” to “joins in” is a character change which young children will relate to and learn from. Lardner handles the theme with delicacy and style, and the realisation is subtle. Oliver Lardner’s wonderful illustrations work perfectly with his father’s text, managing a perfect balance between the adorable naivety of the animals, and the realism of the water and sky that surround them. There’s a lovely softness as the light changes from sharp to hazy in the book, and water turns from olive green to rich clear turquoise or the air and ice goes from lilac to grey to the orange and eggplant of sunset. Life in the Antarctic is portrayed richly, with polar bears arctic subs, a great blue whale, seagulls, dolphins and icebergs. There are also plenty of funny things, from a skiing kangaroo (famous, naturally), to a bird with a multicoloured tuft.

Little Penguin’s father’s advice comes at just the right moment in this beautifully presented and moving story, which will appeal to children from 2 to 8 or so. The vocabulary is simple enough for early readers to handle, and older siblings can read it to younger ones.

Magdalena Ball is the author of Sleep Before Evening, The Art of Assessment, and Quark Soup.