Reviews

Call of the Penguins by Hazel Prior

Only show reviews with written explanations

phoenix_skyj's review

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted

4.0

kbekah87_xox's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I was so eager to start this because I loved the first one so much, but as is the case with most sequels, this one fell flat and wasn’t anywhere near as charming as the first.
Veronica is off on another penguin adventure when she’s asked to be the Penguin Ambassador for Sir Robert Saddlebow’s new documentary on sea birds. This time she travels to Boulder Island to talk about Rock Hopper penguins. Daisy (you’ll remember her as the sick daughter of Gavin and Beth, the friends of Patrick, Veronica’s grandson) writes in to a television show called “I Wish” asking to get to meet penguins in real life, and so Daisy and her mother Beth accompany Veronica and Sir Robert on their trip. Meanwhile, things on Locket Island in Antartica have gone awry when Patrick and Terry get into a fight and Patrick leaves in a huff. He decides to go to Canada to find out more about his father and Veronica hatches a plan to bring both Patrick and Terry to Boulder Island to get them back together again.
While this book was cute, it was far too preachy for me. Many moments felt like I was being beaten over the head with how we are ruining the planet and instead of it sending a message, it sent a sermon. While I loved the moments with the penguins, there were less in this book than the first book and the human interactions were far more aggravating.
I feel like Hazel Prior wanted to write a book on the environment and what a detrimental state it’s in and tried wrapping it up with an adorable penguin bow, but even the cuteness of the penguins didn’t help with the amount of guilt I ended up feeling. I’m now on the fence as to whether or not I’ll be reading any more of Ms. Prior’s books since when I pick up a book, I don’t want a life lesson, I just want to read.