Three Cheers for Tacky

Tacky - a quirky little penguin with a fondness for Hawaiian shirts, and a penchant for causing chaos - returns for his second adventure in Three Cheers for Tacky. As Goodly, Lovely, Angel, Neatly, and Perfect - those smooth-stepping birds who always kept a "stiff upper beak" - prepare for the upcoming cheering contest, Tacky struggles to fit into their team. But will he be able to perform "properly," when the time comes...?

While not quite as entertaining as the initial Tacky the Penguin, this follow-up is an engaging and humorous picture-book examination of the benefits of individuality. The ending is never really in question, but young readers will enjoy witnessing Tacky's triumph regardless. I appreciated the fact that Tacky's show more penguin companions aren't depicted as malicious bullies - they simply don't understand, or always appreciate him. Lynn Munsinger's charming illustrations add to the sense of fun. All in all, a solid entry in a series I intend to continue reading... show less

Tacky's behaviors are very different - and annoying - to the other penguins, but his individual and creative style help them win the cheering contest. Without him, the judges thought their team was boring. GREAT for discussion when a class member's behavior is very different from the rest of the class.

I love the humor Helen Lester uses in her books. Tacky has a uniquely odd personality that is much different than his companions. Tacky embraces his differences. In the story the penguins are in a cheer competition. They become frustrated with tacky when he continues to mess up. When it is competition time Tacky steals the show and wins the competition for his team with his humor and quirkiness. Tacky's companions learn to accept his differences and are thankful to have him around. Helen Lester uses humor that engages students throughout the story and keeps them laughing.

This is great. All the penguin schools are competing in a cheering contest, and the WINNERS get big blue RIBBONS. (There's a great image of all the penguins imagining themselves wearing blue ribbons. Tacky pictures his around his feet!)

So after they firmly explain to Tacky that, on a TEAM everybody is the SAME, they practice their routine. Repeatedly. One, two, three - LEFT! One, two, three - RIGHT! Stand up, sit down, say good night!

Tacky has a few... problems with it. Naturally. But he finally gets it right... and they find out that the non-penguin judges think all the other contestants are boring as heck! Luckily, Tacky can't get it right forever, and by being weird and cool at the same time, he Saves the Day!

The other penguins never show more are shown mocking Tacky for being different, which is a nice change of pace for this type of book. show less

There are a couple of reasons that I liked this book. The first is I loved the main idea of the story. The main idea is that it is okay to make mistakes. In the book, Tacky and his companions are entered in cheer competition with a bunch of other penguin teams from around the iceberg. Tacky's companions do the cheer perfectly every time during practice, but Tacky messes it up every single time. Finally, Tacky does the cheer correctly on the team's last practice. On the morning of the competition, Tacky's companions wonder if he'll be able to do it correctly just one more time. While all of the other teams are presenting their cheers to the judges, Tacky and his companions begin to notice that the judges are quite bored with all of the show more other cheers and become more nervous. When it is finally their turn, Tacky falls during the cheer and continues to make mistakes, but the judges and audience love it and think it's part of the routine. Everyone cheers for an encore and Tacky's team wins the competition. I really liked the suspense in the plot. You didn't know whether or not Tacky was going to do the routine correctly or mess up like he had for the majority of the rehearsals. In the book it says, "But not team was more nervous than Tacky's. Could he do it right, just one more time?" I think that piece of writing adds a lot of suspense. I also think the characters were believable because no matter what competition, play, recital, etc. you are in, there is always that one child that everyone is holding their breath over whether or not they will say the right line, play the right note, etc. show less

Once again, Tacky the Penguin shows being tacky is not such a bad way to live. His crazy antics and wild personality save the day in this lovely story. I enjoy the pictures and the prose, and of course - the characters! I highly recommend this book for young readers and any adult who enjoys a good chuckle.

This book is a great example of Fantasy because the penguins in the book cheered and talked and sang, and we know that penguins cannot do this in real life. The Illustrations in this book were great. The media used was a combination of watercolor and ink and wash. The Author used 3rd person, describing the events that happened to these penguins in the past tense. A group of penguin students want to compete in a cheer contest, but they are afraid Tacky will hold them back. In the clearly sequenced plot (Beginning, Middle and End) Tacky and his class is introduced, Tacky is identified as different. The team practices their cheer, and the team presents their cheer and wins with Tacky's silly contributions. A great book about embracing show more differences. show less