A Penguin Pup for Pinkerton

A big goofy dog hears about penguins hatching eggs on the ice and decides to try hatching his own little one from a football he steals from a neighbor boy. Hijinks and chaos ensue as he disrupts show and tell at school and then a football game in the park through his misguided dedication.

I really like the cat's thought balloons and the art, but the story doesn't quite click with me as the dog gets a free pass for all his disruption. He and the little girl who owns him are not quite cute enough to pull that off.

My daughter thought it was plenty cute though when she was three.

FOR REFERENCE:

Rated "Indifferent" in our old book database by Rod; rated "Good" by Adelia.

Steven Kellogg was always one of my favorite author/illustrators when I was little. I read every book of his I could find, including this one. Now my sister is reading it and I'm so happy to have the opportunity to revisit it after so long.

Pinkerton is one of the most lovable dogs I've ever found! He is always so cute & thoughtful. In this book, Pinkerton's owner comes back from school announcing that they are doing a study unit on penguins and proceeds to tell her family how penguins take care of their penguin chicks. Pinkerton finds a football and begins to think of it as his own penguin egg. He cares for it & ends up getting into a spot of trouble for it.

A Penguin Pup for Pinkerton is a must-read for all Penguin, Dog and beautiful show more illustration lovers. =) show less

Emily arrives home from school after reading a book about penguins and the fact that the father penguin is the one who cares for the eggs until they hatch. Going without food and withstanding the freezing cold, still he carefully cradles the eggs. And the love love and good care of babies/pups doesn't end when the eggs are hatched. The parents continue to ensure safety and warmth.

When she shares her enthusiasm, the family dog Pinkerton becomes obsessed and he too longs for pups. He is discovered cradling and old football and caring for it as though it was a penguin pup.

Emily takes Pinkerton and his pup/football When classmate Billy discovers that the ball Pinkerton holds, is actually his that was left in his yard. When Pinkerton show more discovers a football game, he runs into the field after his pup football. Mayhem results as the police become involved as they chase him through a dog show.

Finding an ice rink, Pinkerton cradles his egg/football as granny comes to the rescue and provides a loving egg with a penguin inside that she sewed for him. All is well as Pinkerton sleeps with his stuffed penguin egg and enclosed baby.

I've recently discovered this author/artist, and learned that he is a prolific children's author and illustrator. I'll be sure to read more of his fun books that bring a smile. show less

Steven Kellogg may be my favorite children's author of all time. There has never been a point in my life where I see one of his books and decide that I must read it. He has always been able to produce stories that make you laugh and have amazing illustrations to go along with it. When A Penguin Pup for Pinkerton is no different. In this story, our main character, a little girl, learns about how baby penguins are born at school. Her Great Dane of a dog Pinkerton watches her explain this and eventually starts using a football to imitate how a father penguin keeps his penguin pups egg warm and safe during the cold months. The fact that Pinkerton is using a football is obviously silly to the girl and it causes some mischief for her and the show more dog, but in the end, like all Kellogg books, everyone has a smile on their face and a resolution has been made. show less

When Emily learns all about devoted Emperor penguin fathers at school, her Great Dane Pinkerton is inspired to begin caring for an egg himself. Unfortunately, since a penguin egg isn’t available, the confused Pinkerton tries to hatch a football instead. Hijinks and pandemonium ensue as Pinkerton attempts to care for his “egg” against all odds. This is a “mom only” book, since Emily’s dad does not appear in the story (even at bedtime), and it is her Mom and Granny that Emily phones for help when the whole town begins chasing Pinkerton. On the other hand, Pinkerton is certainly a committed animal father, and an example of cross-species adoption as well.

Reviewed by Book Dads

This book is comical. It is about a dog that dreams that he has a penguin egg of his own to father. He then wakes up and confuses a football for an egg. Pinkerton, the dog, goes through the entire book confusing footballs for eggs, thinking it is his penguin egg. I think this would be a good book for young readers because they would find plenty of humor in the book as well as the elaborate pictures to look at. The author website is http://www.stevenkellogg.com/. This is a website that has a gallery of photos, new books, author information, and contact information.

In this story, Pinkerton finds a football and he thinks its a penguin egg. This book has wonderful pictures in it too. I love penguins.