No Huddles for Heloise

Written by Deborah Kerbel

Illustrated by Udayana Lugo

Orca Book Publishers

978-1-4598-3910-6

32 pp.

Ages 4-7

March 2025 

I like Heloise. Heloise knows what she likes and doesn't like. She likes sledding and fish popsicles, sharing rocks with friends, and her own space. 

From No Huddles for Heloise, written by Deborah Kerbel, illustrated by Udayana Lugo

What she doesn't like, other than the leopard seals that no penguins like, are crowds and hullabaloo and those huddles that penguins do for warmth and protection. Those huddles that are just too close.

Huddles give Heloise the heebie-jeebies.

The jim-jams.

The willies.

And the collywobbles.

From No Huddles for Heloise, written by Deborah Kerbel, illustrated by Udayana Lugo

But how can she say no to the other penguins and not hurt their feelings? Typically, she has a number of excuses from taking her fish for a walk or polishing her rock collection. Heloise is perfectly happy on her own, enjoying her things, her space, and her own thoughts. 

From No Huddles for Heloise, written by Deborah Kerbel, illustrated by Udayana Lugo

But then the other penguins stop asking her to join them in huddles and Heloise begins to question her own wants and needs, and seeks companions elsewhere. Unfortunately, her travels are disappointing and even dangerous on her own and she returns home to find that her friends have found a way to accommodate her need for personal space while offering her the protection that huddles provide.

It's lovely to read a story about an introverted character who doesn't feel compelled to fit in with the extroverts or have the extroverts demand that their way of socializing and gregarious behaviour is preferable and, worse, the norm. I'm so glad Deborah Kerbel, an accomplished writer of picture books, middle grade and YA, demonstrates an acceptance of the introverted Heloise rather than sympathy for her nature. (The sympathy should be towards the attitude she experiences from those who are not introverted.) Instead, Deborah Kerbel validates the fullness of Heloise's life without the partying and closeness demanded or even just requested by her penguin peers. Heloise is a happy penguin, accepting of her nature and choices. She's never rude but she is true to her herself. Too bad that she feels like she doesn't belong because belonging does not mean being the same as others.

From No Huddles for Heloise, written by Deborah Kerbel, illustrated by Udayana Lugo

I love the positive messages that Deborah Kerbel gives us in No Huddles for Heloise, and BC's Udayana Lugo gives us the whimsy of that message in Heloise and her friends. From their accessories, like pom-pom hats, scarves, and bandanas, to props like a rock polisher or a whale stuffed animal, Udayana Lugo demonstrates the differences among the penguins are the norm and Heloise's introversion is just another manifestation of wonderful diversity. She created her art primarily using gouache and coloured pencils, which gives a bright and rich portrayal of the penguins and the landscape in which they live and play.

 

I'm with Heloise–except for the fish popsicles–that quiet and solitary activities offer comfort in ways that many extroverts will never understand. While we all must engage with others for safety, for work, or for other needs, it's lovely to see Heloise be accepted and even accommodated for her needs, not chastised for being different.

Penguin Days

Written by Sara Leach

Illustrated by Rebecca Bender

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-053-6

104 pp.

Ages 7-10

November 2018

Eight-year-old Lauren of Sara Leach's Slug Days (Pajama Press, 2017) has returned and now the young child on the autism spectrum must find new coping strategies beyond the school and home situations with which she contended in her first book.

From Penguin Days by Sara Leach, illus. by Rebecca Bender

Lauren and her parents and baby sister Lexi have driven from western Canada to North Dakota for the wedding of her Auntie Joss, who is getting married to Almost-Uncle Charlie. It's a long drive but far better than a repeat of the screaming plane fiasco years earlier. But the travel stress is just step one in the journey that Lauren must take to act as Auntie Joss's flower girl. She must also prepare herself for the many people who will be present, including her cousins: Sophia, 12; Zoe, 10; and Kevin, 9.

I didn't want to have a restful summer. I wanted to have a fun summer with Irma ... I had to meet my cousins instead. Which wasn't restful at all. It made my insides feel like squirmy snakes. (pg. 25)

But Lauren's unrest moves into the realm of confusion when Kevin mentions that he has to wear a penguin suit (slang for a tuxedo) and Lauren thinks wearing a penguin onesie would be preferable to the itchy purple flower girl dress she must wear. Unfortunately, when she learns that Zoe and Sophia will also be flower girls, and she twirls in her dress like Sophia, she makes herself dizzy and throws up.

From Penguin Days by Sara Leach, illus. by Rebecca Bender

The reactions of those around her embarrass her and she dashes outside and encounters Kevin who takes her to see the cows in the barn. Though he warns her about being in the barn, she climbs onto fence and falls into a stall with calves. In the mayhem of her screaming, the calves run out and Almost-Uncle Charlie comes to the rescue.

From Penguin Days by Sara Leach, illus. by Rebecca Bender

From the dress to the barn and the rehearsal and its dinner, things always get resolved when Lauren remembers to use her strategies like square breathing or focusing on things she likes to talk about, like lizards and penguins, and when those around her consider how stressful new situations are for her and attempt to make things work for Lauren. But there are many circumstances which Lauren must endure first in order to get through to the other side of okay. Thankfully Sara Leach shows us that Lauren can have slug days when everything goes wrong, and penguin days when she has to dress up and get along with people she rarely sees, and still have wonderful butterfly days when all is right with the world. With the addition of Rebecca Bender's charming black-and-white illustrations that depict Lauren in all her moods, Penguin Days becomes a story of resiliency and overcoming anxiety and stressful situations for all children, with ASD and not.

From Penguin Days by Sara Leach, illus. by Rebecca Bender