Title: Pepe Builds a Nest
Author: Theodore Jerome Cohen
Publisher: Wood Bridge, a Division of TJC Press
ISBN: 13 978-1-5411-9456-4
Pages: 47
Genre: Illustrated Children’s Book
Reviewed by: Gary Sorkin
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Pacific Book Review Star
Awarded to Books of Excellent Merit
Pepe is a Penguin and lives in Antarctica. Award-winning author Theodore Jerome Cohen met Pepe in real life years ago on an expedition to that part of the world. Now he tells children a tale about Pepe in his book Pepe Builds a Nest.
Penguins, as we all know are one of God’s most adorable creatures; having to survive the most extreme weather on earth during the frigid long nights of winter. In order to do so, they need to build a simple nest, out of stones, to anchor themselves along with their eggs so the next generation can be born to survive. In this story, Pepe built a very nice nest, but this bigger Penguin named Otto was lazy and stole some of Pepe’s rocks for himself. After an incident where the other Penguins came to Pepe’s aid, Otto backed down from fighting and returned the rocks to Pepe. Pepe and Ms. Amber, his mate for life, go on to hold wings and grow their family, happily ever after.
Sounds simple? However sometimes the simplicity of creating a story for children which will imprint on their malleable minds requires the skill of a virtuoso. This book reminded me of how Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed Ah vous dirai-je, Maman? (Ah, Will I tell you Mom?) the melody we all have come to love as Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Cohen scribes his words with a syllabic beat of an iambic rhyme to lull the intended audience into a safe and cozy place; filled with fanciful characters to cast off to dreamland those innocent young minds. His creation is more than just an illustrated children’s book, but rather a portal of imagination to embark upon a voyage. Cohen’s wordsmithing in crafting this story is both smooth and enjoyably fluent, never seeming awkward nor strained, as the words flow beautifully off the pages like musical notes off of sheet music.
Using a computerized artistic “brush” filter-effect over photographs for his illustrations, the images of Pepe and others portray the sentiments of the storyline of each of the opposing pages of prose; adding the combination of sight to the sound when being read the story – or for older children reading it by themselves, allowing their own voice in their mind to interpret the words while seeing the pictures of Pepe, Otto and Ms. Amber.
Every worthwhile story needs a moral, and Pepe Builds a Nest certainly delivers. Surely Theodore Jerome Cohen’s book will become a childhood favorite and lay stake to a well-deserved place on a family’s library shelf. “Move over, Happy Feet, there’s a new bird in town!”
