Pink! by Lynne Rickards

Pink! by Lynne Rickards

I work in a girls’ school where all things pink-related are popular, and this picture book is no exception… Patrick the Penguin wakes up one morning to discover that he has turned pink overnight. Patrick is distraught – boys are not pink! Browsing through a book with his father, however, he does realize that some birds (and boys) ARE pink – flamingoes – and decides to set off to Africa. The flamingoes are very welcoming when Patrick arrives, but when they all nap standing on one leg, and later fly to the nesting ground, Patrick realizes that maybe this is not the right place for him either…

My students thoroughly enjoyed this picture book about the penguin who doesn’t quite fit in. We had a wonderful discussion about what may have turned Patrick pink, and about what we could do to make people who might feel excluded feel better. Of course, when Patrick returns to the South Pole his classmates realize how much they missed him, and that his pink feathers really make no difference at all!