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This wordless picture book is about a chance encounter between an ice skater and a penguin. As they skate and twirl together on the ice, the fish below the ice swim around to match their movements.
When the penguin falls through a hole and back into the water, all the fish swim away except one. The penguin catches it and gives it to the girl, but she flings it away and it drops into the hole and back into the water. This leads to hurt feelings, but Flora uses her skate to retrieve the fish and to make amends for her mistake.
Children can provide more than just words for this story. Several pages have flaps to lift, and it’s these flaps that provide action to the characters. Fish dart from side to side, and a string is seemingly pulled out of the water. The flaps are not made of very heavy paper, and some of the flaps are big, so they will bend if the pages are turned in haste.
Idle’s (Flora and the Flamingo) characters move with grace, even when they are mad. Flora wears colors that match the penguin’s colors (blue, white and yellow), and the school of fish below the ice dance in sync as beautifully as the new friends above the ice. The book ends with the pair skating a figure eight (also an infinity sign)—using only one foot each!
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Flora and the Penguin