Penguin Island

Fiona is different: she's the only rockhopper in a big colony of gentoo penguins. Brinkie and his gang make fun of her because she can't swim as well as they do and doesn't like the kind of fish they eat. Her only friend is Stormy the petrel - until a family of rockhoppers arrives on Penguin Island. They have a youngster just her age named Rocky, but he's a show-off like Brinkie! Fiona decides to swim far away where she can be by herself. Before she can, however, Rocky helps to teach her that being different can mean being special.

I've long cherished a love of children's writing. In 1992 I published a children's book, Dinosaur Dress-Up, from Tambourine Press (a division of William Morrow & Co.). I am a longtime member of the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators.
Penguin Island is comprised of three related stories. The main character is Fiona, a rockhopper penguin whose parents have been captured by human beings and taken off to a zoo. Fiona has been left stranded on Penguin Island, where all the other penguins are gentoos. Without others of her own kind, young Fiona grows lonely. Although she does her best to fit in, she is different -- and some of the gentoos are unkind enough not to let her forget it.
I'm very fond of Fiona. For one thing, she is, like all rockhoppers, a beautiful bird -- she has a sort of spiky punk haircut, long yellow plumes and bright red eyes. Rockhoppers look totally cool, so they're fun to draw. But the best thing about her is that she's smart and she never gives up. And once she meets Rocky -- well, he's a new arrival on the island. Another rockhopper! Rocky's a wiseguy, very sharp and self-confident. He shows Fiona that it's okay to be different. Which is something I firmly believe. Why waste time being like everyone else? We all have the potential to be special. That's why I love Rocky; he's very comfortable being who he is.
Other characters include Brinkie, a show-off gentoo penguin who's not as big a creep as he first appears to be; Stormy the Petrel, Fiona's only real friend oin the Island before Rocky arrives; a scary, sneaky leopard seal -- and a family of human beings who visit the island to study the penguins.
Nothing else scares Fiona as much as people, because humans stole her parents from her. I think it's part of growing up to have to face our demons, and that's what Fiona has to do throughout this book. Rocky helps her, but in the end she's the one who has to deal with her deepest fears. And to increase the drama, I had this happen during a terrible storm that threatens the entire island.
But not to worry -- there is plenty of humor and fun in Penguin Island. It's not meant to be a heavy book, even though I did snag the title from Anatole France's satirical novel about penguins who develop a humanlike society. Plus, the drawings were lots of fun to do. I used a very intricate cross-hatch technique that I've seen utilized well by artists I admire, like Murray Tinkelman and Laslo Kubinyi.