Book Review: Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester and illustrated by Lynn Munsinger

Published 1988 by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, ISBN 0395455367

Although this children's book is over 20 years old, its message can still reassure and inspire any child feeling like the odd one out.

Tacky the Penguin is a charming story about a Hawaiian shirt-wearing penguin who doesn't quite fit in with his polite and proper companions. Where they swim gracefully, Tacky jumps in with a cannonball. Where they sing beautiful songs, he squawks loud, tacky songs like "How Many Toes Does a Fish Have?" But Tacky's different style actually saves the day when hunters looking for pretty perfect penguins to trap and sell find Tacky instead.

Lynn Munsinger's bright illustrations add layers to the story told by Helen Lester. One of the things I found most enjoyable about this story is despite the potential for making Tacky a despised outcast, the illustrations show the other penguins treating Tacky with a bemused tolerance, and they continue to spend time with him. As for Tacky himself, he is always smiling and seems to be blissfully unaware of how his antics disrupt others. His earnest nature shines through, and no one ever seems truly upset with him.

Helen Lester tells her story with an engaging rhythm that small children will love. The sentences are short and several phrases keep popping up (like "Tacky was an odd bird") that kids will love to read over and over. There are even two short songs, encouraging children to make up music and sing along.

But Tacky the Penguin's real charm lies in its message that individuality has its own advantages. Anyone who has ever marched 1-2-3, 4-2, 3-6-0, 2 1/2, 0 will recognize Tacky's unburdened comfort with being himself.

Making Modern Names More Fantastic

When I'm creating a new character, no matter what genre I'm writing in, I like to start with the name. Names carry a lot of baggage, and it's not so much the way a name sounds but how it looks on the page that gives it personality. A name can be a great way to get to know a character, especially a fantasy character.

I find baby names books especially helpful for finding a great name that sparks life into a fantasy character. I prefer them to most of the fantasy name generators available out there because the resulting name has the same rhythm and cadences as the modern name, without the harsh anachronism of seeing a contemporary name in a historical or fantastic setting. Here's an example of one of my own name-tweaking sessions for my fantasy Zephyr's Awakening.

I started out with my trusty 35,000+ Baby Names, skimming the boy's name section until I hit Darren. Pretty modern, but already a fantastic cultural history from Bewitched (always a good idea to be aware of the cultural connotations when picking a name). Other suggested spellings: Darin, Daren, Derren.

I took the final suggestion, and with a short list of my own adjustments, ended up with the name that went on to inspire one of my favorite characters, Dheren (who in a nutshell is a tender, quiet, quasi-immortal soldier-priest with a deep, secret, and potentially lethal passion for a holy avatar--and a fondness for gardening).

The great thing about this system of name creation is most of the names you end up with are easy to pronounce (not always readily available in fantasy names) and each version conjures up a different kind of personality for your character. To help you get started recreating modern names for your fantasy characters, here's a short list of ordinary, familiar, and possibly boring names that have been given a little touch of the fantastic:

• Mairi
• Alyss
• Jeska
• Lehri
• Danne

If you have any recreated names you'd like to share, please leave a comment!

Storytelling Inspiration from Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury is attributed with saying, "The most improbable tales can be made believable, if your reader,through his sense, feels certain that he stands at the middle of events."

So not only should all stories (not just fantasy and sci-fi) have believable worlds built around them, but authors are also responsible for relaying action, dialogue, and events in a way that the reader feels like a part of the story. In a nutshell, this is how good stories are written.