Well Done, Mummy Penguin

What’s it about?

The story.

Mummy Penguin has a chick at home who is hungry. She must get fish. The only way is to go into the sea, which is cold, and to climb back up the ice, which is steep, and to deal with whatever the sea contains that day. She goes anyway. Chris Haughton gives her a series of escalating obstacles: a steep climb, a dive, a wave, a strong current, a journey that takes longer than expected. Each one is handled in a double-page spread with the dramatic composition that makes readers hold their breath. Mummy Penguin's expression barely changes, her determination is absolute and slightly absurd, in the same comic register that runs through all Haughton's animal protagonists. The Antarctic palette, cobalt sea, pale ice, night sky, is Haughton's most visually ambitious work: the illustrations reward looking at closely. The pay-off, when Mummy Penguin returns, carries an emotional weight that makes this a natural gift for new parents, who recognise every obstacle more keenly than expected. For children it reads simply as an exciting adventure about a penguin who doesn't give up.