Petal and Poppy by Clough Lisa, and: Petal and Poppy and the Penguin by Clough Lisa (review)

Petal, a tuba-playing elephant, and her pal Poppy, a rhinoceros, live together in a lighthouse. In the first title, the more intrepid Poppy goes scuba diving, while “worrywart” Petal accompanies her in the boat because she is too nervous about Poppy to stay on shore. Petal brings along her tuba, as practicing will take her mind off her fears about Poppy; when fog drifts in Poppy is able to locate the boat thanks to Petal’s playing but not before Petal jumps overboard to rescue Poppy and in turn needs rescuing herself. In the second title, a storm brings an unexpected guest to the lighthouse: a penguin. After Poppy brings the little guy inside, the penguin quickly endears himself to both friends, fixing a meal, doing dishes, dancing to Petal’s tuba music, and falling asleep in Petal’s lap, and the duo decides that he can stay. Smaller, comic-like panels alternate with larger illustrations in these graphic novel/easy reader mash-ups, and dialogue and sound effects, presented in speech bubbles, comprise the minimal text. The digital art, though cheery, is flat and sometimes overloud and busy compositions bury the all-important dialogue balloons. Kids who can tackle Willems’ Elephant and Piggie series may nonetheless embrace a new appealing easy-reader duo in Petal and Poppy.