- Picture Books
- Ages 3–7
- Animals
Up and Down
Book 4 of 5 in The Boy SeriesView the full series
Part of the Oliver Jeffers universeOpen the collection
The penguin wants to fly. The boy can't help with that, so the penguin goes to the circus alone to find out how. A gently bittersweet story about ambition, independence, and the friends you miss when you finally get what you wanted.
- Best for3–7
- FormatPicture
- Length40 pp
- Read aloud~8 min
The vibe
What it’s like.
Style
- Lyrical
- Conversational
- Comedic
Tone
- Warm
- Gentle
- Funny
- Bittersweet
- Heartwarming
- Cosy
Themes
Experience meters
What’s it about?
The story.
The penguin has a dream: to fly. The boy tries everything he can think of to help, but nothing works, penguins don't fly. When a circus arrives and offers the penguin a chance to try, the penguin goes. The boy waits. The penguin achieves flight, and realises, up there above everything, that the boy isn't there to see it. The penguin misses the boy. The boy misses the penguin. They find each other. Oliver Jeffers gives this third book in the boy-and-penguin strand a gentler comic register than the previous two, and the emotional weight is correspondingly higher, the brief separation, even handled as simply as this, carries real poignancy, particularly for children who have ever felt left behind or left something behind. The circus sequences give Jeffers a chance to introduce bright colour against his usual muted sky-and-sea palette. A good book for conversations about independence, about wanting to grow and yet missing what you're leaving; about the friends who are happy for you and the ones who wait. Best read after Lost and Found.
Fit check
Right for your child?
Where it lands by age
- 1
- 3
- 5
- 7
- 9
- 11
- 13
- Best fit · 3–7
- Read aloud · 3–10
- Independent · 5–7
Prose load
Minimal
Visual support
Very high
Reluctant-reader friendly
Workable
Read-aloud quality
Excellent
Works well for
- Reading aloud
- Bedtime
- Reading together
Nothing in the book is likely to concern most parents. Safe to recommend without preview.
Bedtime suitability
4 / 5 · Bedtime-friendly
Sensitive-child
4 / 5 · Good fit
Graphic intensity
1 / 5 · None
Best for
- Gift book
- Bedtime book
- Penguin lovers
- Picture book adults love
- Discussion starter
Avoid if
No common reasons to avoid this one — a rare clean sweep on the sensitivity flags.
Particularly good for children who are…
- Making friends
- Separation anxiety
- Low self esteem
- Anxiety and worry
In the classroom
How it works in school.
Oliver Jeffers' warm Boy adventures about friendship and belonging — spare, lovely read-alouds rich for inference and talk about feelings.
A book children love that happens to support school — never a stand-in for the texts a class is taught with. Reviewed for the classroom · June 2026.
Why it lands
Why they love it.
Why kids love it
The specific weight is the cannon — the penguin wanting to fly, the boy trying everything to help, the circus offering a chance, the penguin going alone and discovering up there that the boy isn't with him. The Jeffers Boy-and-Penguin book on independence and missing each other.
- Animal companions
- Adventure and freedom
- Friendship and belonging
- Being special or chosen
Why parents love it
The third Boy-and-Penguin — slapstick mode with the cannon-launch finale, gentler comedy but slightly higher emotional weight than the earlier two. About growing up and the friends who wait. Best after Lost and Found.
- Beautiful illustrations
- Bedtime appropriate
- Conversation starter
- Great writing
In the series
The Boy Series.
5 books · open the series →
About the author & illustrator
Oliver Jeffers.
If you liked this
Three ways out of this book.
If you liked this, try…
Lateral matches. Same shelf, different texture.
Come into this from…
Easier or preparing reads — perfect lead-ins.
Where to go next…
Escalation reads — a step up in scale, silliness, or stakes.
Buy or borrow
Pick up a copy.
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- Hive ↗
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