Blown Away follows the journey of a Penguin Blue as he takes his kite out for its first flight. Things take an unexpected turn when the strong wind carries the penguin and his two friends up into the sky. A couple of friendly animals try to help, but they get swept up into the sky as well! The animals build up the courage to let go of the kite and they fall into the lush green jungle on a tiny island. They really want to get home, so Penguin Blue comes up with a very clever solution to their problem…
The bouncy rhyming text and visual jokes in the illustrations make this book great fun to share with little ones. While the story plot and text are quite simplistic, the illustrations provide us with a lot more detail. Some may question why the polar bear is in the Antarctic setting, but a closer look at the illustrations show that he has travelled all the way south from the North Pole. Perhaps to catch bigger fish? Or is he lost? These sorts of hidden surprises can be found all over the book and allow for further discussion away from the text – particularly to encourage children to make inferences. For example, why were the animals trapped on the island? (Sharks circling the island, no other forms of transport available.)
For further speech and language targets in Blown Away, see the list below.
Narrative Structure: Complete Episode
Story Plot: Journey Tale
Published by HarperCollins Children's Books in 2015 (ISBN: 9780007593828)