ALA Booklist (Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 CST 2018)

According to the other penguins, Chilly isn't very good at penguin things; he's too busy inventing. But it was one of his erstwhile inventions that caused Chilly, along with a few of his fellow penguins, to be separated from the rest of their colony: his flying machine cracked the ice, and now they're adrift on a slowly shrinking iceberg, eyed by a hungry orca. But Chilly got them into this, and he's determined to invent a machine that will get them out. He has lots of great ideas (a boat called the Polar Roller! A submarine called the Mega Lisa!), but they keep failing. Then, one day, as he watches the seagulls overhead, Chilly realizes maybe he made some mistakes with his first flying machine. Action-packed panels, diagrams of Chilly's inventions (and daydreams), and nods to Leonardo da Vinci make this a goodhearted embrace of trial and error and a celebration of failure as a learning experience. Rutland's energetic illustrations, peppered with side comments from background characters, add plenty of personality.

Kirkus Reviews

A young Renaissance penguin triumphs after much trial and considerable error.Rutland crafts an incoherent tale featuring a beaked inventor who puts part of his flock in peril with one experimental device, then gets them out of it with another. Trapped on a small iceberg that's been split from the home glacier in some unclear way by his new flying machine and is rapidly shrinking as ice chunks are bitten off by a menacing orca, Chilly hastens to construct from apparently limitless quantities of iron "sea junk" a series of baroque escape vehicles. After his riveted "Polar Roller" sinks like a stone and a side-wheeled submarine likewise fails ("My pulleys didn't pulley. My engine didn't engine," he comments opaquely), he pauses for some kelp casserole made by the "ladies who chick-sit me" before ultimately (after many pages) succeeding. The splashy watercolor-style illustrations alternate between jumbled brown leaves of rough diagrams and Antarctic scenes of the bespectacled Chilly, ruminating over each reversal and ignoring the sallies of nemesis Vinnie ("Hey, pull my flipper") in the background. The tale's non sequiturs and coy sight gags and references will likely play better with readers than its supposed theme—which, according to the author's awkwardly phrased afterword, reflects the life of the historical Leonardo in focusing more on process than rewards and in thinking outside the box.A salute to the spirit of invention that reads more like a first draft than a finished product. (Picture book. 6-8)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Rutland begins this maker story on Vinci, an improbably named glacier, where Chilly the penguin invents machines very much like his intellectual forebear Leonardo. This subjects him to the scorn of a penguin named Vinnie. -I told you so,- Vinnie mutters as Chilly-s prototype flying machine, the Good Bird, cracks the ice, stranding Chilly, Vinnie, and four more penguins on an ice floe being circled by a hungry orca. Gulls coasting effortlessly on the wind inspire Chilly to build an improved machine so he can wing the otherwise flightless flock to safety. Sepia pages represent Chilly-s notes and drawings (echoing the great Italian artist-s), while polar-hued spreads record what happens when Chilly actually builds and tests his contraptions. Rutland-s most important message--Great inventors never give up--is often obscured by thrown-in jokes (-I hope it-s not my last supper-) and some plot holes; the source of all the machine parts, for example, is never shown. An author-s note about the human da Vinci and his early failures provides more straightforward encouragement to young inventors. Ages 4-8. (Dec.)

School Library Journal (Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 CST 2018)

K-Gr 3 Chilly Da Vinci is a young inventor. While his friends are busy doing "penguin things," he builds machines. While many admire his ingenuity, his nemesis, Vinnie, "won't stop gakkering at me." So when the Good Bird accidentally cracks their iceberg, sending Chilly and friends afloat to sea, Da Vinci becomes convinced that his "flying machines stink like rotten orca blubber in the midday sun." To make matters worse, a large whale aka "Mr. Plumpy Fin," appears to be after them. Still, a good inventor never gives up, so Chilly draws up plans for a sea roller made of sea junk and then an underwater boat, the Mega Lisa , both of which are mega failures. Despite Vinnie's continued jeers and his own disappointment, a stroke of genius inspired by a gliding seagull prompts Chilly to use wind power to create a new, improved flying machine. He is successful, delivering his friends home to cheering crowds. An author's note explains Rutland's inspiration, Leonardo Da Vinci, and offers some advice to young innovators. Endpapers are sketched in brown on a weathered brown background to mimic the master's original designs. The illustrations, which appear to be ink and watercolor in black, white, blue and brown, are filled with detailed ink designs, comical asides, and action. VERDICT A lively addition to makerspace collections that's sure to inspire and nurture a spirit of invention. Barbara Auerbach, Cairo Public Library, NY