Rating: Needs Parent Supervision

Reading level: Early Elementary

If you’re ok with a little bit of mild potty/body humor, and with (spoiler alert!) a villain who is a hypnotist, then Mr. Penguin is an exciting, clever, silly James-Bond-meets-Mr.-Bean character that will keep your elementary kid interested (and I enjoyed it too!). *see caveat below.

Possible concerns:

  • Potty/body humor: It turns out the secret society of crime fighters’ acronym is (not accidentally) B.U.M. There are a few other silly mentions of something to do with a bum, the worst one I could remember is that a flying bird-shaped machine had a lever coming out of its bottom. I don’t think this was meant to represent anything overly crass or abusive; I think the author just knows what might get a giggle out of his audience.
  • Hypnotism. The villain of the story is a skilled hypnotist who was mistreated by her parents and as a result appears to want to take over the world. The process of the villain is explicitly recorded in journal entries, and you can see her hunger for power. This might spark some great conversations about power, control, and what can go wrong when we have (or seek) too much of it.

*caveat: the one other criticism for this story is that instead of sending the captured villain to jail, Mr. Penguin uses hypnotism to rewrite the villain’s story in her brain and sort of turn her into a pleasant person by speaking life (albeit lies) about her past. That sort of rubbed me the wrong way, but I’m probably being a bit sensitive here. I guess I just wouldn’t want my kids to think “it’s ok to control someone as long as you’re controlling them to become a better person.” In contrast, Gal 5:1 says it’s for freedom Christ set us free.

Despite the fact that this review focuses on the heavier topics, the story is actually pretty action packed, silly and light-hearted. Colin, the hero’s sidekick, is a spider who doesn’t talk but rather writes his thoughts on a notepad.

One thing I liked about this story is that a young girl is a genius inventor. I just like that the book posits a young gal as a STEM expert/enthusiast.

*See also my reviews of other books in the series:

Mr. Penguin and the Lost Treasurehttps://jesuslovesthebookworms.wordpress.com/2022/08/01/mr-penguin-the-lost-treasure-by-alex-t-smith/My Bookshelf
Mr. Penguin and the Fortress of Secretshttps://jesuslovesthebookworms.wordpress.com/2022/09/23/mr-penguin-and-the-fortress-of-secrets-by-alex-t-smith/Needs Parent Supervision
Mr Penguin and The Catastrophic Cruisehttps://jesuslovesthebookworms.wordpress.com/2023/02/19/mr-penguin-and-the-catastrophic-cruise-by-alex-t-smith/Not for me