Peanut Gets Fed Up
by Dana Wulfekotte; illus. by the author
Preschool    Greenwillow    40 pp.    g
4/22    978-0-06-245582-6    $17.99

Narrator Peanut, a stuffed penguin, has been with preschooler Pearl since the very beginning. First words, first steps—­Peanut has seen it all. But life with Pearl can be messy, too. Naptime drooling, muddy puddles, and a wing-ripping pet dog have Peanut, well, fed up. “That’s it! I’ve had enough.” The stuffed penguin hatches a plan to escape from Pearl’s mistreatment and dives out of her backpack during a Saturday visit to the park. Finally independent, Peanut enjoys the chance to “eat whatever I like. And go wherever I want…It feels great to be free!” Until, that is, “freedom” starts to feel awfully lonely, and now, in the illustrations, the penguin suddenly appears very small amongst the vast expanses of the trees and swing set. Has Pearl already replaced Peanut with a new toy? Does she even notice that Peanut is gone? Despairing, the penguin falls into trouble, only to find that friendship stands the test of time. Captured in lively, soft pencil drawings, Pearl and Peanut’s story appears through well-paced vignettes to capture just how much they’ve shared. For fans of Bear Is a Bear (rev. 11/21) and Knuffle Bunny (rev. 9/04), this is a good reminder to hold on to the ones we love—even the stuffed ones.

From the July/August 2022 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.