• Synopsis •
Pengey doesn't have many breaks as a baby; he's the runt of the colony and becomes an orphan soon after he's hatched. There's little chance for his survival, and he's forced to rely on the lessons his parents taught him. Wandering away in search of food and warmth, a fierce winter storm leaves him stranded on a small chunk of ice adrift at sea. But Pengey is undaunted by his troubles. When he is lonely, or hungry, or angry, or just plain stuck, he always calms down and, “ponders his options.” Pengey is a very smart penguin.
After surviving attacks by hungry predators, Pengey makes landfall. Starving and tired, he stumbles upon a shack where some humans are wrapping up their work. Pengey's always inquisitive, polite, and a quick study. He's near death when he meets Wendy. Still, he impresses her with his good manners and ability to learn human words. With a full tummy the two become instant friends. The next day Wendy leaves on an airplane back to New York. She pleads with Pengey to go with her, but he is terrified of the airplane.
Alone again, Pengey's is at the beginning of his real adventure: to find his new best friend and adopted Human Mom, Wendy. One mishap leads him to Brazil and to his happy reunion with Wendy. but the next mishap separates him from Wendy again, and lands him in animal jail.
With his ability to talk noticed by the jailer, Pengey looks like money in the bank. There are many evildoers who would enslave Pengey to the circus or the cloning laboratory.
It's in jail that Pengey meets his most trusted allies, Rufus the Puffin (quiet, smart, and reserved) and Lionel the Macaw (street wise, grew up on the Lower East-Side.)
The three unlikely castaways must overcome obstacles that test their friendship at every turn, not the least of which is how to escape from animal jail, but once free of that, they face the real and immediate dangers of the real world.
On the side of luck, Lionel is a huge bird, and Pengey finds that he can sit on his back and Lionel can fly him around. They have to clear the rain forests of Brazil and Venezuela, not to mention avoiding constant danger of attacks by wild animals.
More dangerous still is the flight across the mighty Caribbean. It's always been prone to terrible sea squalls that Pengey and Rufus can easily survive, but the little islands that dot the sea offer Lionel little comfort, because he cannot swim. Conquering the elements, escaping from predators, and making the dangerous 5,000-mile journey to New York is what bonds Pengey, Lionel, and Rufus together.
Spurred on by Pengey's cheerful ways and courageous spirit, they all find their ways back to where they are loved the most. However sweet the sorrows, in the end, they go their separate ways, each rewarded by their friendship. But it is Pengey's reunion with Wendy that is a triumph of the spirit, because without Wendy there would have been no journey at all.
Price $17.95 S&H + CA residence $1.71 Sales Tax
