#16- The Penguin and the Pea

The Penguin and the Pea

Retold and Illustrated by: Janet Perlman

Scholastics

2004

27 pages

Traditional Literature

This book is about a penguin that gets caught in a storm and runs to a castle for shelter. The penguin did not know it but at the same time the King and Queen were looking for a princess for their son. The parents were not convinced that she was a queen because she looked terrible after being out in the storm. The parents decided to test her by putting a cabbage under her bed. She saw the bed and said it looked lumpy but still tried to sleep on the bed. She did not sleep at all. The mom decided she needed a harder test so she put a pea under nineteen mattresses and twenty heavy quilts. The next morning she was on the floor because she could not sleep on the bed. The parents and the son were so happy because they knew that she was royalty. The penguins lived happily ever after and the pea is on display in the Royal Penguin Museum.

Perlman's artwork was drawn in ink on paper then colored in Photoshop. The book's text is formally placed and most formally placed in the book. The book has the text across from the framed pictures and under the framed pictures. Spot art is also used below the text. The line of the book is horizontal. The colors that are used in the book are bright rich looking colors. At night when the penguin is sleeping darker colors are used to represent night.

This book is appropriate for children who are three years and up. As a teacher, you could you this book in your classroom in my different ways. You could link this story to the Princess and the Pea. While doing this you could show your students how they can model their story off a traditional story they might know. You could turn this into a writing assignment. It would be entertaining to hear the spin-off stories the students come up with based around traditional stories. You could also use this book for character education to encourage students to tell the truth. Another way this book could be used is to teach students about royalty or if you have a theme on penguins. Janet Perlman is a director and writer of short films as well as an author and illustrator of children’s books. She has received many awards for her short films. Here is an example of one of her award-winning short films. This one is called The Tender Tale of Cinderella.