I was fascinated with this one. I will be honest, I saw penguin and tortoise and I went I wanna read this cos I love both those animals.

I did not expect a book with Jewish content! I learnt more about the Jewish culture/faith as well as kindness plus the author adds a traditional Jewish dish too.

What a wonderful way to introduce Jewish traditions to children.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher and all opinions expressed are entirely my own.

The book follows two animals, a turtle and a penguin who sneak into a house during Passover. They are tempted by the smell of gefilte fish and end up stealing some. The following morning they feel guilty and take back the meal and ask for forgiveness. Such an entertaining book .

The book was sadly not quite for me. I did however love learning the history of the gefilte fish at the end.

Hmmm... where to begin? Is it the bonkers plot, of a penguin and his friend the turtle rushing off to steal some gefilte fish they can smell being prepared, only to ending up with a guilty feeling? Is it the naive and overly-repetitive narration? Is it the substandard artwork, surely not taking much time or PC power in its construction? No I cannot exactly point you in the direction of a better book that uses animals as an introduction to themes of gefilte fish-derived guilt, but that's not to say this is an essential purchase. Quite the opposite.

This book tells the story of two animals, a turtle and a penguin who sneak into a house in New Zealand during passover. They stumble upon the delicious smelling gefilte fish being served for the holiday, and can't help but steal some! Later they feel guilty and apologize for stealing the fish, and are invited to enjoy passover with the family they stole from. The story ends with some information about Ashkenazi Jews and the traditions related to Passover as well as a recipe for Gefilte Fish.

This is a great story for teaching about diverse celebrations from the perspective of some fun animals. I think this book would be perfect for families and teachers of children in the age 5-10 range. The pages are usually text on one side and pictures on the other. The pictures are detailed and interesting. There is a fair amount of text per page so I would recommend it for mainly shared reading or read alouds with younger children but I think that older children who are able to read independently would enjoy the story as well. Thanks so much to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book!

The reluctant Penguin is a children’s book about the power of sharing and traditions. A lovely penguin called Paul and his friend (shall I say mate, as it takes place in New Zealand?) Tommy, the sea turtle, go on an adventure because they can smell food (fish?). They do steal the Gefilte fish but Paul feels terrible about it and decides to return to the family and offer them apologies and fish. They are forgiven and share the family’s Seder with them. The author adds the recipe for this kind of dish at the end of this opus and tells us about Jewish traditions. An excellent read for children and parents alike!