Well Done, Mummy Penguin by Chris Haughton

Title: Well Done, Mummy Penguin

Author: Chris Haughton

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Walker Books

Published: 3^rd November 2022

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 40

Price: $27.99

Synopsis: From Chris Haughton comes a funny, suspenseful celebration of mothers set against an atmospheric Antarctic backdrop.

Mummy Penguin is off to find a fishy dinner for her family. She has to swim very fast, climb a slippery cliff – cu-crunch, cu-crunch, cu-crunch – and even tiptoe past some sleeping seals… Shh! All the while, Little Penguin looks on in awe and says: “Well done, Mummy Penguin!”

The icy – and treacherous! – Antarctic landscapes are breathtaking in this funny and exciting celebration of all that mothers do, and all that mothers are.

~*~

Little Penguin is hungry! So Mummy Penguin sets out to find some dinner for Little Penguin in the treacherous Antarctic, competing with other penguins for food, slippery ice, and reticent seals that don’t want her to get past them so she can get back to her family with dinner. Little Penguin cheers Mummy Penguin on – ‘Well done, Mummy Penguin!’ It is an utterly charming book that is written and illustrated by Chris.

This simple story shows how mothers and fathers can take on various roles – the father taking care of the baby while the mother heads out to hunt. Showing that both can be equal partners in the raising of children is powerful, because it will help children and all readers realise that gender roles and binaries are not always present – that we all do things within our families and lives in different ways, much like the penguin family. I love that it showed Mummy Penguin as confident and brave and is just one way of showing how mums and dads can be within the family dynamic.

There are many ways to be male, female, a mother, a father and so many other gender and family roles across the spectrum, and delightfully, this story shows the magical bonds between families through the lives of the penguin family. The illustrations use a blue, white, and green colour palette to reflect the iciness of Antarctica and the penguins are in darker colours, so they stand out against the paler colours. This added to the magic of the story for me because I felt like I was there. The cold seeped off the page and gave the environment a realistic feel that readers will love.

The book is another one that celebrates mothers – in a different way to so many others, but also sticks to what we might expect. All this does is show that there are lots of ways to be a mother, and for all the mothers, the best way to be a mother is to do what is right for you and what you enjoy. Another great picture book!