Book: Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester

No blog that belongs to me could ever be complete without some at least some picture books, and I certainly can’t think of a better place to start than with Tacky. While it may be said that I am a bit biased toward penguins in general, Tacky is most definitely one of my favorite characters from children’s literature.

I suppose I should start by saying that if it were possible to have a fictional spirit animal, Tacky would probably be mine. (There is another character I also relate pretty well to, but we will just have to save that for a future post!) Tacky is a bit odd. He does not quite fit in with the other pretty penguins. He marches to the beat of his own drum (1-2-3, 4-2, 3-6-0, 2 1/2, 0). Nonetheless, Tacky always turns out to be a good bird to have around.

While I wouldn’t exactly call it a “series,” there are several books featuring the adventures (or perhaps more accurately, the mis-adventures) of Tacky and his penguin companions. I have not read all of these, but have enjoyed all of those that I have encountered. Tacky is a great character for showing kids that it’s okay to be different– and sometimes even advantageous.