While I have absolutely adored David Small's accompanying illustrations (they are lively, fun and expressive, and even though I am usually not that much of a fan of mostly black and white cartoon like renderings, in this case, for One Cool Friend, they work incredibly well with Toni Buzzeo's presented narrative, with especially the little splashes of depicted colour delightfully focusing one's eyes), I just cannot at all appreciate (or even all that much accept) the entire concept of the book, of what transpires within the actual pages of One Cool Friend. Unlike Kathryn, I did not see the end coming. It’s a winner.Ī tremendous amount of gratitude for Goodreads friend Kathryn’s review for motivating me to get to this one. This book is worth owning and it’s also gift worthy. Some warnings: vegan kids might have questions and their adults might want to have discussions, very young kids might need to be told a freezer is not conducive to staying alive, kids will probably clamor to go to the aquarium or other places to visit penguins, kids might ask for a penguin as a pet.

The book’s humor reminds me somewhat of the Bad Bears books by Daniel Pinkwater and that is high praise indeed.

I love the boy, the penguin, the father, and the surprise/twist ending, and the science too. Both story and pictures are at times very, very funny. It’s completely charming and absolutely adorable, and very amusing. I was enthusiastic about this book because I’m a fan of David Small's illustrations, and they are wonderful here, but so is the story.

One Cool Friend by Toni Buzzeo