Book Review: Flipper and Finnegan by Sophie Cunningham

 Flipper and Finnegan

by

Sophie Cunningham

illustrated by Anil Tortop

The True Story of How Tiny Jumpers Saved Little Penguins

 

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

 

Imprint: Albert Street Books

 

Publication date: 16th August 2022

 

Genre: Children's Picture Book

 

Pages: 24

 

RRP: $ 19.99AUD

 

Format read: Hardcover

 

Source: Courtesy of the publisher

 

My thoughts

 

🐧🐧 This delightful tale about two tiny penguins, inspired by real events, is a heart-warming story about community and the power of media for a call out for help. 

 🐧🐧 Flipper and Finnegan are part of the huge penguin family living on Phillip Island but when a large oil spill occurs off the coast of the island their lives are put in danger.

Local rangers from the Wildlife Centre spring into action to save the penguins. They all need washing to remove the oil. A call-out goes out for tiny knitted jumpers for the penguins to wear while waiting to be cleaned. All around the world people knit jumpers and send them in.

 

 

🐧🐧 An uplifting and positive story, fun and full of warmth, with underlying environmental themes presenting a good opportunity to talk about our natural environment and the animals living in it.

 

With visually stunning and colourful full page illustrations Flipper and Finnegan is sure to delight children aged 3 years plus.

 

Note: Thousands of jumpers were received and surplus jumpers are sold on toys to raise funds for wildlife conservation on Phillip Island. 

 

Our rating 5 / 5  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

publisher recommended age: 3 - 6 years 

 

About the author

 

Photo credit: Mathew Lynn

Sophie Cunningham is the author of five books, City of Trees, Geography, Bird, Melbourne, and Warning: The Story of Cyclone Tracy. She is a former publisher and editor, was a co-founder of the Stella Prize and is now an Adjunct Professor at RMIT University's Non/fiction Lab. In 2019 Sophie Cunningham was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her contributions to literature.

 

 

 

 

 

 

About the illustrator

 

Anil Tortop was born and raised in Turkey. She moved to Australia in early 2011 and has been trying to get used to the local eight-legged house intruders and slithering visitors to her garden ever since. Anil also works as an animator and character designer, and lives with her husband in Brisbane. Her previous books include A First Time For Everything by Tiffiny Hall & Ed Kavalee and Bat vs Poss by Alexa Moses.