Once the penguin is on terra firma, complete with the boy's umbrella, the boy rows away but he looks back and notices that the penguin looks sadder than ever. They battle on through good and bad weather and eventually reach the South Pole where there is a sign 'Welcome to the South Pole'! The boy is delighted but the penguin, who had been happy throughout the journey suddenly becomes sad again as the boy helps him out of the boat.
They row south and to keep the penguin's spirits up the boy tells stories all the time. Then together they push the rowing boat out to sea (and one of the most gorgeous and touching illustrations in the book is of the two of them doing so). He takes his rowing boat out of the cupboard, tests it for size and strength and packs everything that the pair will need for the journey. So the boy decides that he and the penguin will row to the South Pole. He goes down to the harbour and asks a big ship to take them to the South Pole but the ship is about to depart and does not hear the boy over the sound of the ship's horn. He wonders how to get there and return the penguin to his surroundings. The next morning he is determined and he finds out that penguins are from the South Pole. When he goest to bed the boy frets because he wants to help the penguin but he doesn't know how to do so. The boy also asks his pet toy duck when he gets in the bath that night but the duck, too, doesn't respond and simply floats away. He even tries asking the birds if they know anything about the penguin, but, perhaps not surprisingly, they ignore his question. The boy thinks the penguin must be lost so he visits the Lost and Found Office but meets with no joy. The penguin, meanwhile, stands there looking all very sad.
The boy in the story, unnamed, finds a penguin on his doorstep and wonders where he comes from. It is a simple story about a boy and a penguin but the feelings it arouses are many there is pathos aplenty, a fear of being alone, wonderment, disappointment, determination and above all happiness and friendship. And thank goodness I didn't resist this one.
I just can't resist a book with a penguin in it.
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