Well Done, Mommy Penguin

With his vibrant, stylish art and spot-on visual storytelling, Chris Haughton turns to Antarctica for an irresistible ode to family bonds and awesome moms.

“She’ll be back soon, won’t she?”
“She sure will,” says Daddy Penguin.

The sky may be dark over icy waters, but Mommy Penguin is off to catch some fish for dinner. As Daddy and Little Penguin watch in suspense, Mommy swims, jumps, and climbs up a slippery slope, barely avoiding a plunge back into the sea. Well done! There's just one more hurdle to overcome, past some grumpy, just-awakened seals, before she returns to her anxiously waiting family. With a nod to the fascinating nature of penguin parenting, this boldly illustrated adventure from the creator of Little Owl Lost and Oh No, George! will have little ones happily on the edge of their seats as they root for Mommy Penguin.Haughton’s signature blocky style works well to capture the squat, waddling seabirds. Icy blues and crisp whites saturate the chilly landscape. Playful sound effects add levity and make for a fun read-aloud, but it is Daddy Penguin’s repeated calm assurance that Mommy Penguin will come back (“She sure will”) that grounds and steadies the book even when Mommy is faced with a brief moment of danger. . . . Female empowerment and penguin parenting at its best.
—Kirkus Reviews

No challenge is too great for the indomitable mother penguin that stars in Haughton’s latest color-saturated work, a comic tribute to motherhood’s never-ending labor. . . . Haughton’s bold and blocky aesthetic brightly captures the exhausting and frenetic hustle of getting food into little bellies.
—Publishers WeeklyChris Haughton is the creator of many acclaimed picture books, including Shh! We Have a Plan, for which he received an Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Award; Little Owl Lost; Oh No, George!; Goodnight Everyone; Don’t Worry, Little Crab; and Maybe . . . . He has taught many courses in design and illustration around the world. Originally from Dublin, Chris Haughton now lives in London.