We love Tacky! ( )

If you've read the other Tacky stories, this is very similar. The appreciation of the oddball continues. You gotta love it. ( )

I love the humor Helen Lester uses in her books. Tacky has a uniquely odd personality that is much different than his companions. Tacky embraces his differences. In the story the penguins are in a cheer competition. They become frustrated with tacky when he continues to mess up. When it is competition time Tacky steals the show and wins the competition for his team with his humor and quirkiness. Tacky's companions learn to accept his differences and are thankful to have him around. Helen Lester uses humor that engages students throughout the story and keeps them laughing. ( )

There are a couple of reasons that I liked this book. The first is I loved the main idea of the story. The main idea is that it is okay to make mistakes. In the book, Tacky and his companions are entered in cheer competition with a bunch of other penguin teams from around the iceberg. Tacky's companions do the cheer perfectly every time during practice, but Tacky messes it up every single time. Finally, Tacky does the cheer correctly on the team's last practice. On the morning of the competition, Tacky's companions wonder if he'll be able to do it correctly just one more time. While all of the other teams are presenting their cheers to the judges, Tacky and his companions begin to notice that the judges are quite bored with all of the other cheers and become more nervous. When it is finally their turn, Tacky falls during the cheer and continues to make mistakes, but the judges and audience love it and think it's part of the routine. Everyone cheers for an encore and Tacky's team wins the competition. I really liked the suspense in the plot. You didn't know whether or not Tacky was going to do the routine correctly or mess up like he had for the majority of the rehearsals. In the book it says, "But not team was more nervous than Tacky's. Could he do it right, just one more time?" I think that piece of writing adds a lot of suspense. I also think the characters were believable because no matter what competition, play, recital, etc. you are in, there is always that one child that everyone is holding their breath over whether or not they will say the right line, play the right note, etc. ( )

Once again, Tacky the Penguin shows being tacky is not such a bad way to live. His crazy antics and wild personality save the day in this lovely story. I enjoy the pictures and the prose, and of course - the characters! I highly recommend this book for young readers and any adult who enjoys a good chuckle. ( )