Carnegie and Greenaway Awards: Puffin Peter

Petr Horacek
Peter and Paul are the best of friends, but when Peter gets lost in a terrible storm he can’t find Paul anywhere. With the help of a big blue whale Puffin Peter set off to find him. They find all kinds of birds that match Peter’s description but none of them is quite like Paul.
This is a heart warming story of two puffins called Peter and Paul who are separated by a terrible storm. Peter finds a big blue whale who wants to help, so Peter describes Paul to him, but he just can’t quite seem to get the description right and they find lots of birds but none of them are Paul. Just as Peter is about to give up he spies an island and on it is his friend. So the big blue whale wants to know why didn’t Peter tell him that Paul was a Puffin?
The pictures in this book are really colourful with lots of detail that really adds to the story. This makes it easy to discuss the story with little one’s when you are reading to them. The theme of friendship is strong throughout as Peter travels the seas in search of his friend. He describes his friend in detail to the big blue whale but they still aren’t successful in finding him, the issue could however have been solved by saying that Paul was a puffin in the first place. This is an effective way of showing a preschooler that sometimes it’s the simplest way of explaining things that count.
Verdict: This isn’t my favourite of the Greenaway books but I’ll still be borrowing this when shadowing is finished to read to my preschooler.
Reviewed by Alison