"Where is Home, Little Pip?"

“Where is Home, Little Pip?” is a heart-warming fantasy fiction picture book published in 2008 by the best-selling author-illustrator team Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman. The book follows a young penguin, Little Pip, who knows not to stray far from home. One day, she accidentally finds herself in unfamiliar territory and we follow her as she encounters all kinds of Antarctic creatures on her quest to get back home to her “pebbly nest by the stormy sea”. Little Pip knows where home is by the song that her parents taught her to remember, but everyone she runs into is singing a different song.  Just when she fears she’ll never make it home, Little Pip learns a valuable lesson about family and where home really is.

            This book is rich in its artistic elements with every page canvassed in rich detail and textures. The painted illustrations of this book are what make it captivating and make the written text come alive. Jane Chapman wonderfully compliments Karma Wilson’s story by creating visual representations that create the warmth of a family, or the cold disparity of being alone that Little Pip feels on her journey through the Antarctic land. Appropriate for ages 3-7, this book would lend itself to wonderful lessons about family values, family differences, and ultimately that home is where the heart is.

Wilson, Karma. Where is Home, Little Pip?. Illus. Jane Chapman. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2008.