Penguin and Pinecone: A Friendship Story by Salina Yoon (Walker and Company, 2012) is a sweet story about a friendship between a penguin and a pinecone. In the story, Penguin befriends a pinecone (an anthropomorphic pinecone that returns feelings of affection). Although the two friends live far apart, Penguin knits scarves for his pinecone friend and Pinecone remembers the penguin who helped him get planted. The ending of the story is cliche, and yet it works.
My son and I finished the story and sighed “oooh!” The pictures are simply adorable: seriously, how could a knitting penguin be anything but cute? I love how Penguin’s friendly example lets his other penguin friends likewise find some connections by the end.
