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Wong, Liz

I Am Not a Penguin: A Pangolin's Lament

40 pp. | Knopf | January, 2021 | Trade ISBN 978-0-593-12740-7 $17.99 | Library ISBN 978-0-593-12741-4 $20.99 | Ebook ISBN 978-0-593-12742-1 $10.99
(2) K-3 A scaly orange mammal puts up signage ("Meet the Pangolin") before addressing readers directly: "Hi there! You may not have met someone like me before. I'm a pangolin, and I'm here to tell you all about pangolins." With posters and a pointer, the pangolin begins to share information about itself. A crowd of animals gathers for the poster session but repeatedly interrupts the creature: "Did somebody say penguins?" "Ooooh! I love penguins!" The pangolin's frustration builds until it explodes into a full-page, all-caps outburst. This stuns the crowd for a moment, but then the tension is cut by the arrival of an actual, and very popular, penguin. The obstreperous crew dumps the pangolin to go surfing, but a human child remains, eager to explore the pangolin's fact-filled posters--and giving readers a chance to learn from them, too. Pastel colors and textured gouache paintings pop atop substantial white space. Though there are no citations, the straightforward facts and cheeky dialogue are engaging, well-paced, and presented clearly in either poster-shaped rectangles or speech balloons. Recommended for fans of Maxwell Eaton III's Seriously Funny Facts About Your Favorite Animals series (The Truth About Butterflies, rev. 5/20, and more).
Reviewer: Elisa Gall | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2021

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