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Summary
Summary
Fans of Tad Hills and Jory John will love this hilarious picture book about Pinky, a flamingo at the zoo who sneakily slips out to join a group of kids on their zoo tour.
Pinky isn't your typical flamingo. He's a real escape artist!
When he sees a young girl named Penny and her class touring the zoo, Pinky feels like they're birds of a feather and decides to make a break for it.
Penny is the first to spot the flamingo hiding in plain sight. One by one, she lets her friends in on Pinky's antics as he tries to blend in with the seals, the meerkats, and even the pandas.
Young readers will enjoy trying to find Pinky on every spread and will be curious to discover whether he can actually fly the coop!
Author Notes
Michael Portis is a children's book author and illustrator from Studio City, California. He received his MFA in art at UCLA and is an art director and children's book app designer. Pinky Got Out! is his debut picture book. You can visit him at michaelportis.com.
Lori Richmond got out of her studio and explored the Bronx Zoo while making this book. She is the illustrator of several picture books and the author-illustrator of Pax and Blue and Bunny's Staycation . She lives with her family in Brooklyn, New York. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter at @loririchmond or visit her at loridraws.com.
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
It's a game of spot-the-flamingo when the aptly named Pinky escapes his flock's enclosure during a class's zoo field trip. "These birds always stick together," a zookeeper tells the class-meanwhile, a sharp-eyed girl named Penny sees the bird take wing and alerts her classmates: "Pinky got out." The phrase becomes a refrain as Pinky sneaks away to hide variously among meerkats and monkeys, pandas and pythons. Making his debut, children's book app designer Portis moves the lighthearted story along while deftly incorporating facts about different animal species: "Some seals hold their breath while sleeping underwater," says the zookeeper, ever oblivious to Pinky's antics. Illustrations by Richmond (Pax and Blue) will keep readers turning pages as they search for hints of flamingo in each spread (in one, the long-legged bird, sporting snorkel gear, floats among seals; in another, he hides among stuffed monkeys in the gift shop). The kids are glad to share what they learned at the zoo: "Pinky got out!" they shout with glee. And in a final scene that lends heart to the otherwise game-like tale, Pinky perches outside Penny's window at night, sticking with the friend who sees him best. Ages 3-7. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Children on a field trip to the zoo follow the antics of Pinky the escapee flamingo.Portis' debut picture book follows Penny, a light-skinned, brown-haired little girl, and her racially diverse class on a field trip to a generic-looking zoo. Penny repeatedly exclaims that Pinky the flamingo "got out" and is hiding in various animals' enclosures, which she points out to her classmates, but the zookeeper does not believe her until Pinky pops out and startles her in the gift shop, the last stop on the tour. Pinky eventually escapes the zoo and perches on top of Penny's house in the penultimate and most charming illustration in the book. Richmond's simple, cartoon illustrations depict human characters with uniformly oversized, perfectly round heads and offer both chances to find Pinky in the background and fun, silly reveals. However, the repetitive structure of the story is weak, causing the book to lose momentum and feel unfocused. The author inelegantly weaves other lessons into the story of Pinkythe zookeeper gives brief facts about only some of the animals that appear in the illustrations and repeatedly reminds children of the importance of staying with your class while on a field trip, a lesson clearly meant to underscore the irony of Pinky's escape but that palls nevertheless.Ultimately brings nothing new to the table, though young children will enjoy spotting the titular flamingo. (Picture book. 2-6) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
