When Father Turtle reads Little Turtle a bedtime story about penguins, he has no idea the story will have a transformative effect on his son. Dreaming about the black and white birds, Little Turtle wakes up in the morning wanting to be a penguin. After slipping into his red slippers and finding an old black coat to hang over his head and back, Little Turtle is confident that his white belly completes the appearance of an artic bird. Waddling past his parents on the way to the school bus, Little Turtle announces that he is going to have a “penguin day.” At school, all of his friends are delighted with his costume, and soon everyone is playing along, shuffling fragile eggs on their feet, belly-sliding down the playground slide. At home, Little Turtle ends his day with goldfish crackers—because penguins like to eat fish. Valeri Gorbachev’s humorously sweet story about the power of books to inspire imaginative play ends with a playful twist at Little Turtle’s bedtime that will have young readers and listeners imagining plenty of monkey business for Little Turtle next. (Ages 3–6)

TURTLE IS SO excited by the book about penguins that his dad reads him at bedtime that he decides he wants tobea penguin. So the next morning, he creates a penguin costume, grabs his book, and heads for the schoolbus. His kindergarten classmates are thrilled. They all want to be penguins too! Turtle shows his book to his teacher, and all day long he and his classmates do as the penguins do—they slide down the slide on their bellies during recess, form a waddling conga line at music time, and snack on goldfish crackers. It’s a super-cool penguin day. Turtle thinks he’d like to be a penguin every day. But, that night, his dad has a new book to read—and this one is all aboutmonkeys!

This delightful picture book from Valeri Gorbachev celebrates both the power of books, and the joys of imaginative play in all its dress-up-box glory. And, with the extra penguin facts at the end of the book, this is a perfect blueprint for teachers planning penguin days of their own.