Lost and Found

What’s it about?

The story.

One day, a boy finds a penguin at his door. He assumes it must be lost, and sets about trying to return it. He rows a small boat all the way to the South Pole with the penguin beside him. When they arrive, the penguin seems sad. The boy rows home alone, and then realises: the penguin wasn't lost. The penguin was lonely. He rows back. They go home together. Oliver Jeffers tells this story in spare, luminous illustrations, the two small figures crossing vast grey water under enormous skies, and in language that is simple enough for a toddler and resonant enough for an adult. The twist is one of the most emotionally satisfying in picture books: the boy's kindness has been real all along, but the solution needed to change. The penguin's loneliness is never named but it is felt. An award-winning BBC animated film (Magic Light Pictures) has introduced the book to a whole new generation, but the picture book remains the definitive version. The book most new readers come to first in the Boy series, and the one they remember longest.