Penguin Pandemonium - The Rescue
The second hilarious story about the irrepressible penguins of City Zoo, from award-winning author Jeanne Willis. One of the fantastic titles in the Awesome Animals series – the funniest fiction, starring the wildest wildlife, from prize winning authors.Two baby penguins are missing and the rest of the City Zoo penguins set out across the zoo on a daring rescue. They hang with the monkeys, fish for clues in the aquarium and try not to get spotted in the leopard’s lair on a fast-paced adventure full of fun.
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Contents
Meeting the Penguins!
Chapter One: Bad Chicks
Chapter Two: Chick-napped!
Chapter Three: Penguin Pryamid
Chapter Four: Penguins on the Loose
Chapter Five: Snakes and Sardines
Chapter Six: Hippo-hoppomus
Chapter Seven: The Penguins are Stuffed
Chapter Eight: Go, Muriel
Chapter Nine: A Party of Penguins
Copyright
About the Publisher
Rory, Eddie & Clive
Looks: Rockhoppers have spiky yellow and black feathers on their heads that look like long eyebrows.
How big? 45 to 58 cm – about half the size of adult Emperor Penguins.
Favourite food: Shrimps.
Penguin party trick: Rockhopper Penguins love to burst from the water and land on the rocks with a belly flop.
Flipper fact: They hop from rock to rock, keeping both feet together and can jump up to one and a half meters.
Little Blue, Muriel, Hatty & Brenda
Looks: Fairy Penguins have blue feathers on their heads and backs but have white bellies.
How big? 30 to 33 cm – the world’s smallest penguin.
Favourite food: Sardines and anchovies.
Penguin party trick: In the wild, Fairy Penguins are nocturnal so they only go on land at night (well past the Rockhoppers’ bedtime).
Flipper fact: The world’s smallest penguin – they are also known as the Little Penguin, or the Little Blue Penguin.
Paulie, Alaskadabra, Oo-Chi & Ku-Chi (chicks)
Looks: Emperor Penguins have black backs, white tummies and bright splashes of yellow and orange on their front and their ears. The chicks are fluffy and grey and their faces are white, not black.
How big?! Up to one meter tall – the world’s tallest and heaviest penguin (over three times as tall as Little Blue!).
Favourite food: Squid.
Penguin party trick: When an egg is laid, the male stands with the egg on his feet to keep it warm until it hatches (this can take up to nine weeks).
Flipper fact: Emperor Penguins can stay under water for nearly twenty minutes!
Waldo, Warren and Wesley
Looks: Chinstrap Penguins get their name from the small black band that runs under their chin.
How big? Up to 68 cm (twice as tall as Fairy Penguins).
Favourite food: Little shrimps called krill.
Penguin party trick: Chinstraps are also known as Stonecracker Penguins because their call is so harsh it sounds like it could break stones.
Flipper fact: Chinstraps are the most common type of penguin – there are about thirteen million of them in the world.
Flighty Almighty
… Ahem, he’s a GOOSE!
It was perfect weather for penguins. It had snowed heavily in the night and the penguin enclosure at City Zoo looked just like the Arctic. The wooden huts where they slept glittered under a frosty duvet like a row of mini igloos and there were icicles hanging off the palace where Big Paulie the emperor penguin lived.
It was so cold, the penguin pool had frozen and to Rory the rockhopper’s delight, the ice was thick enough to stand on. He tested it carefully with one foot, then both feet – it seemed perfectly safe – but the two bears who were watching him had their doubts.
“You’re skating on thin ice, matey!” shouted Orson.
“Don’t come crying to us when it cracks and you freeze your butt,” added Ursie.
Rory looked up at them, but instead of the two brown bears that normally lived in the paddock, there appeared to be two polar bears.
“Dang! I hate the way the flakes stick to my fur when I make a snow angel,” said Orson, brushing himself down and revealing his true colours.
“Some angel,” grunted Ursie. “You’re the Nightbear before Christmas.”
Just then, Blue the little fairy penguin came skidding over.
“Hey, Rory! What are you waiting for?” she laughed, grabbing his flipper and dragging him on to the ice. “I can’t remember the last time the pool froze.”
“Nor can I,” said Rory, spinning her round. “It must have been when we were eggs.”
“It was way before that,” said Ursie. “It was in 2008 on a Tuesday. I remember it well because a tubby old emperor penguin didn’t realise it was thawing – and fell through in a very comical manner.”
“That was Alaskadabra,” said Orson. “He had to be rescued by that boss of yours.”
“Yeah, Big Paulie,” chortled Ursie. “I’ve never seen anything so funny in all my life.”
“Hey, who are you calling funny?” barked a gruff voice from the edge of the pool. “Show some respect or I’ll have my good friend Mister Tiger turn you into a rug.”
It was Paulie. He looked even bigger and even more fierce than usual to Rory. Even the bears backed off, but the two fluffy emperor chicks hanging on to his tail weren’t the slightest bit scared of him.
“Thwing me with your flipperth, Uncky Pooey!” lisped Oo-Chi, poking the mighty emperor in the tummy.
“No, let’th play thkidding!” insisted Ku-Chi, folding his stout relative in half by buckling him behind the knees.
Big Paulie might have been in charge of the grown-up penguins – he’d had years of practice – but taking care of two frisky toddlers was a very different kettle of fish. He cleared his throat and beckoned to Rory.
“I think he wants to talk to you,” said Blue.
