Merry Helps Pip Embrace the Water in Don't Be Afraid, Little Pip

Several years ago, I discovered the series of Bear books by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman. These charming stories for the 3- to 7-year-old set merge gentle rhyme and repetition with warm, endearing paintings, and I’ve found each installment just as enjoyable as the last. While I’ve read several of Wilson’s other books, she usually works with a different illustrator outside of the Bear series, so I was excited to find Don’t Be Afraid, Little Pip, a story about a penguin, and discover that Pip, too, is the star of her own book series written by Wilson and illustrated by Chapman.

Unlike Bear Snores On and subsequent books in that series, Wilson uses prose for Don’t Be Afraid, Little Pip. She does include a brief bit of verse as the penguins sing of the joys of swimming and other birds sing of the joys of flying, but for the most part, each page includes two or three short paragraphs, much of it dialogue.

In the middle section of the book, Pip wanders off on her own and encounters a petrel and an albatross, and each of them, despite expressing doubts as to whether this will work, issues instructions about how to fly, since she finds that more appealing than swimming. Wilson gives us a good sense of how these birds take flight, while Chapman paints them in intricate detail. It’s easy to see the differences among these three birds.

I love that this is such a different setting from the woodlands Wilson and Chapman usually tread together. One can almost feel the ocean breeze and smell the salty spray while perusing Chapman’s paintings with their varying shades of cool blue, and Pip and her fellow young penguins are adorably awkward as they waddle across the beach.

As an avid Lord of the Rings fan, one thing I love about this book is the fact that Pip’s first friend, the one who eventually helps her through a perilous situation, is named Merry. Coincidence? Perhaps, but even though these penguins are female, it’s easy to draw a parallel between the pairs, especially since Pip seems to be just a bit younger than everyone else. She needs a firm friend to help her face her fears, and one gets the sense that many adventures await these two. Like Bear Feels Scared, this book celebrates the power of friendship to bring one strength in the midst of a frightening situation.

Penguins have become pretty popular subjects for picture books lately, in part due to the success of March of the Penguins and Happy Feet. Children who have embraced Bear and his friends are likely to find just as much to love in this, one of the cutest penguin books I have encountered.