Wings!

Penguin is determined to fly: he doesn’t want to be the left on his own any longer when his friends take to the air. Try as he might though, his efforts all end in disaster, even with some assistance and encouragement from some of his winged pals. When Owl’s lessons don’t get him airborne he sits watching the seemingly effortless flight of Swallow, Robin, Blue Tit and Goose and the frustrated creature can hold back his tears no longer. Just when it seems that he’s going to have to forget is dreams of flying, back come all his friends and they just might have the solution to Penguin’s flying problem. In the end though, it seems that for Penguin, learning to fly was mostly a matter of finding his own element.

This is I think, author of The Edge Chronicles, Paul Stewart’s first foray into picture books and combined with Jane Porter’s deliciously funny, artfully constructed collage style pictures, the outcome is a heart-warming demonstration of the power of friendship, working together and the pleasures of finding your own talent. Those illustrations of Jane’s will, I suspect inspire many children to try creating their own avian collages.