Penguin Pandemonium – The Rescue

Jeanne Willis's The Rescue is a Penguin Pandemonium story for 6 year olds about a rockhopper penguin who is very, very bad at babysitting.

What happens

It's snowed at City Zoo and the penguin pool has frozen solid. Rory is having the best time skating on it. Then Big Paulie, the emperor penguin who runs the place, turns up with two fluffy chicks hanging off his tail.

Teeny and Tiny are his niece and nephew. They call him Uncky Pooey, they poke him in the tummy and they lisp EVERYTHING ("Thwing me with your flipperth!"). Paulie has somewhere to be, so he begs Rory to look after them.

How hard can it be? Rory's friend Blue gets the chicks to nap with a story. Then Rory's mates turn up on snowboards and it's just one more go down the slide. And another. And another.

When they get back, the chicks have gone.

What follows is a big, silly chase right across the zoo. The two nosy bears next door say they saw two little girls wheel the chicks off in their dolls' pushchairs. So the penguins have to get out of their enclosure first. A wobbly ramp collapses (with Rory underneath it) before they try a penguin pyramid instead.

Then they're loose. There's a cutest-animal contest with the meerkats, a dive into the aquarium that goes badly for bossy Muriel, and a ride on a very polite giraffe. Who knew penguins could get into this much trouble in one afternoon?

It's a brilliant one to read aloud. The chicks' lisping is hard to say with a straight face, and Muriel has a line for everything ("Oh my cod!"). There's a lot of squabbling and a bit of being sick, which is usually a big hit.

The tension does build later on. The chicks end up in real danger near the lions, and the penguins think the worst for a moment. If your reader gets anxious when animals are in trouble, you might want to read that part together. Even then the jokes keep coming, and Rory is determined to put things right.

What to read next

If they want more of Rory and Blue, the first Penguin Pandemonium book is in the library too. The zoo has gone quiet, nobody comes to watch the penguins any more, and there's talk of the whole place closing down.