Central Kansas Library System

Elliot, a very proper young man, feels a kinship with the penguins at the aquarium and wants to take one home with him.

Although Sergio the penguin loves to play soccer, he is very clumsy and uncoordinated and he practices day and night, hoping he can help his team win the big game against the Seagulls.

Virgil the penguin finds a polar bear and tries to claim it as his own, but the polar bear wants to splash with the terns, slide with the seals, twirl with all the penguins, and be called by his name--Owen.

"Owen the polar bear and Virgil the penguin both love going to school... just in different ways. Eager Virgil likes to learn as much as he can, as quickly as possible. Owen likes to savor each moment as he counts and writes and tells stories. So when Virgil rushes Owen a bit too much one day, their friendship is suddenly on thin ice. Can Virgil exercise some patience and appreciate his friend's point of view?"--

Wilson is one of the most bullied fourth-graders at the chaotic Very Elementary School until his long-lost uncle, Desperate Evil Wicked Bob--a pirate--and his talking penguin arrive and begin making everything ship-shape, one classroom at a time.