Augustine Review

Augustine the book about a Penguin who moves to a different area  caught my eye because of the cover.  The cover is colorful and it has a picture of Austine holding her little penguin stuffed animal Picasso.  The cover is so cute I just couldn't resist. 

Augustine is an adorable little penguin.  She was named after the famous painter Pierre-Auguse Renior.  She currently lives at the South Pole, but her dad has a new office in the North Pole so they will be moving.

Ausustine and her family pack up the house.  Augustine packs up her toys and her suitcases, and then they say good bye and head to the airport.  Augustine is sad because she will miss her frineds, and her teach, but especially she will miss her grandparents.

Augustine and her family move in to her new house, and she likes the new house a lot. 

We follow Austustine to her first day of school where she is nervous.  But she has brought along her stuffed pengquin Picasso to help her get through the school day.  She has also brought her colored pencils to school and duing recess she while the other children play.  After recess all of the children are curious about her picture, she has drawn a picture of an airplane and tells the children all about the trip.  The children all want to draw. Then Augustine's new teacher tells the children that the children can all display their art work at the art fair next week.  Augustine's art work has helped her make new friends, and she even gets to display it.  She is very exited. 

Augustine also get a big surprise at the art show that makes her very happy.

This story is really cute, and the pictures are adorable.  This would be an excellent book to give as a gift to a child who is moving.  This book can help them with their transition as they will relate to Augistine.  They will also be comforted by the fact that Augustine is able to find her way in her new home and at her new school, and that she was able to make new friends.  This allows them to know that they will be able to make new friends as well. 

Augustine was written and illustrated by, Melanie Watt.  Melanie Watt wrote this book based on her own experience as a child as her family moved around quite a bit, and her drawing was something that she loved to do and helped to comfort her. 

The illustrations are wonderful.  On one page of each pair you will see a big picture of what is being read about at that moment, on the other page you will find several small squares that show pictures of all the things that are written about for those two pages.  For instance when Augustine talks about leaving home and missing her friends and teacher, there is a little picture of all her friends and her teacher saying good bye, a picture of a tissue box, a picture of the airport, and their suitcases, their plane ticket and a couple pictures of other saying good bye.  In the middle of all the small pictures on the small picture pages are drawings by Augustine, on the particular page I was just talking about there is a drawing of Augustine's grandparents.

The story is a quick and easy read, and each reading page has just 4 lines of text.

My only issue with the book is that it has Augustine moving to the North Pole, this might confuse kids a bit, because of course Penguins only live in the South Pole.  But it is just a story.

This is a cute book for any child between the ages of 3 and 7.  It is an especially nice book for a child who is moving a good distance away.  This is a good book to sit down and read with such a child and you can discuss the book with them while discussing their own up-coming move with them as well, using Augustine as an example to share their own feelings.