Written by Meg McKinlay
Illustrated by Mark Jackson

Walker Books Australia, June 2018
Ages 3+

Penguins?

Everybody knows penguins … don’t they?
The penguins are coming and there is great excitement at the zoo. But what’s a penguin? The animals don’t quite know what to expect – but they all have an opinion, each more outlandish than the last. When the truth about penguins is finally revealed, everyone is in for a surprise!

The Penguins Are Coming! is a zany romp that plays with the fine line between fact and fiction in the animal world.

The detailed, expressive illustrations will have children searching each page for added fun.

NB: This is an updated version of The Truth About Penguins, which was published in 2010.

What Readers Are Saying:

‘Oceans of fun and colour with plenty of apt facts and enough animal imagery to fill a real life zoo.’
–  The Boomerang Books Blog

One of the triumphs of The Penguins are Coming is that it’s truly successful as a fiction book with real facts in it.
– Susan Stephenson, “The Book Chook”

‘…the language rolls from your tongue, the illustrations add richness to the words and encourage keen imaginations to extend the story … The Truth About Penguins has a droll sense of humour and the writing never patronises its audience…’
– Michelle Hamer, The Age

‘The story has a quirky way about it that is quite charming … a sweet tale that will delight child and reader alike.’
— Books + Publishing

Awards

• Shortlisted, Young Children Category, Speech Pathology Book of the Year Awards 2011

Resources

Download classroom ideas (NB: these refer to title as The Truth About Penguins)

Behind the Story

The idea for this book came from a conversation I had with my daughter, who was about eight at the time. This was back in the era of Happy Feet, March of the Penguins, and so on when penguins were all the rage and every child I spoke to seemed to want to tell me about them. One day my daughter came home from school and started telling me all the penguin facts she had learned that day – Did you know that penguins live in Antarctica? Did you know that the dads put the eggs between their feet? Did you know that penguins mate for life? – that sort of thing. And I just thought I’d have some fun with her. I replied, “Well, you know, that’s what they tell you. That’s what the penguins want you to believe. But actually, penguins don’t even like the cold. The ice is slippery and the wind makes their beaks hurt.”

Without really meaning to, I just began spinning a yarn about penguins who flew off to tropical beaches, leaving their chicks at home with nannies, and picking up fried fish at the drive through. And later I wondered if there was a story there. It took a couple of years of back and forth with my editor and a lot of redrafting to make it work as a picture book, but that’s where it all began.