Cuddly Dudley

Although Alborough's illustrations are animated and action-filled, his story of Cuddly Dudley--unlike his clever Where's My Teddy? --seems predictable. Dudley the penguin is so cuddly that he finds himself constantly surrounded by brothers and sisters who want to hug him. When he finds what he thinks is an abandoned cabin, he enjoys the solitude until the owner returns and also wants to cuddle. The illustrations are in soft-lined, pastel colors, which warm up the Antarctic setting. The writing is somewhat soft, too, full of words like "huddle," "waddle," "toddled," etc. It's not an exciting story, but the images of lots of snuggly penguins might appeal to children.

Dudley is sick of being cuddled all the time by his large extended family pack of penguins. He wanders off in search of solitude and finds an empty cabin. Perfect! Time alone! But all good things must come to an end...and in this case, that's a good thing. Cartoony illustrations make this extra fun. I could see having some fun with "cooties" and "cuddles" during a story time with this one. Preschool - grade 2.

A silly, wacky story that has no relation to anything, except that it describes certain children who do not like to be touched (including one of mine) to a T.

Genre: Fantasy
Medium: watercolor and ink
This is a book about a penguin, who has lots of brothers and sisters who love to cuddle him. He gets tired of being cuddled, so he decides to leave and live on his own. When his siblings come to visit, he refuses them. Finally he tries to find his family again, and he decides he wants to be cuddled. This is a fun book, that I would use with k-2 kids. There is some rhyming, and some fun descriptive words, so I think kids would like it.

Summary: This story is about a penguin named Dudley who gets sick of being around other penguins because all they want to do is cuddle with them. he runs off to get away from them and starts living in a cabin until the man living there comes back and wants to cuddle with him too. He runs away from there and feels lonely so he searches until he finds his family again.
Genre Critique: This story is an example of a fantasy because it involves talking animals as characters. The setting is pretty accurate with penguins being in the snowy and icy geography, but the talking animals proves that it is a fantasy.
Character Critique: Dudley in the story is a very dynamic character, because of his maturation through the story. He starts out wanting show more to only be by himself and pushing away his friends and family. Then at the end he has a change of heart and appreciates being around those family and friends he had. show less

Dudley is a cuddly penguin but all he wants is to be alone. Until he is found by an eskimo who thinks he is cuddly too.

Genre: Fantasy