Pink! - Softcover

Lynne Rickards was born in Canada and has lived in Scotland for twenty years. She is well known as a best-selling children's author and her other books include Clementine's Smile, Groovy Googles and Other Splendiferous Rhymes and I Do Not Eat the Colour Green. She makes regular appearances at book festivals throughout the UK, including Bath, Edinburgh, Borders and Aye Write (Glasgow). Margaret Chamberlain produced her first children's picture book whilst still a student at the Royal College of Art and has gone on to illustrate a huge number of children's titles, including the bestselling The Man Whose Mother Was a Pirate and The Tale of Georgie Grubb.

PreSchool-Grade 1—One day, Patrick the penguin wakes up pink. When his classmates make fun of him, he swims to Africa to meet the flamingos. But he doesn't fit in there either, so he heads home. His friends are impressed with his journey and happy to see him, prompting him to decide that his mom was right—being different is not so bad. This rehashing of the theme of accepting one's differences includes humor, but Patrick's classmates' turnaround is a bit facile, and nothing is truly new here. Charmberlain's bright cartoon illustrations are reminiscent of Mary Murphy's work, although somewhat more detailed. Patrick is, well, very pink, with his feet an impressive shade of fuchsia. While the text is set in a typeface that can be hard to decipher at times, the story reads aloud smoothly and reflects a childlike sensibility. However, some literal-minded youngsters may want a bit more explanation for why the penguin became pink and whether or not he will stay that way. For another take on accepting differences that includes flamingos, pick up a copy of Ellen Stoll Walsh's For Pete's Sake (Harcourt, 1998).—Amy Lilien-Harper, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT
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