School Library Journal Starred Review

K-Gr 3-Pinkerton's back-and his new adventures are as outrageous and entertaining as ever. The story starts on the title page, as the oversized pup sneaks off with an unattended football. When his owner, Emily, comes home from school full of enthusiasm and information about their latest topic of study (penguins and their remarkable parenting skills), the Great Dane promptly decides the football must be an egg. When the girl decides to take him and his "egg" to school for show-and-tell, pandemonium ensues. An irate Billy gets his ball back by using a cookie as a bribe. Then on the way home, the dog just happens to find another football (it's in use at the time) and leads football players and spectators on a merry chase through a nearby dog show. He winds up at the empty ice rink, cradling his new penguin egg. Luckily, Granny has made a penguin egg (complete with zipper) and both Pinkerton and Emily are pleased as punch with the baby "Pinkwin" it contains. Kellogg's cheerful, busy artwork offers plenty of extra laughs, from Rose the cat's unsentimental musings (she sees the penguins- and most other animals, including Pinkerton-as potential cat food) to the outraged faces of the people and pets whose lives are complicated by the pup's headlong dash. An engaging story, humorous illustrations, amusing details, and a combination of perennially popular topics make this a sure winner.-Lisa Dennis, The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, PA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

ALA Booklist (Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 CDT 2001)

In this latest addition to the Pinkerton series, Emily entertains her family with facts from her classroom unit on penguins. Her description of male emperor penguins brooding their offspring by cradling eggs on top of their webbed feet impresses this lovable Great Dane; he, in turn, attempts to incubate a football on top of his paws. The results are predictably unsuccessful and hilarious as Pinkerton wreaks havoc on the classroom, a neighborhood football game, and a dog show. Finally, Granny uses her sewing skills to create a zippered egg containing a stuffed penguin pup for Pinkerton to parent. As always, Kellogg's signature artwork carries the plot, adding humor and details to the deadpan story line. For example, Rose, the family cat, expresses her own thoughts about adding penguin chicks to her diet--and her glee that sibling Pinkerton might be put in jail. This makes a good choice for story hours, especially for fans of this series.

Horn Book (Mon Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 2002)

Pinkerton's paternal longings are stirred by his owner Emily's new knowledge that a father emperor penguin cradles his egg on his feet. Kellogg's watercolor washes and joyfully detailed acrylic paintings tell much of the story, as Pinkerton first cradles a football on his paws for a whole day, then disrupts a football game, and later turns a dog show into a rollicking fiasco.

Kirkus Reviews

The latest Pinkerton from Kellogg is a bit too all over the place to sustain an actual story line, and Pinkerton is too distracted to play even a fantasy role of a father. Emily learns in school that father Emperor penguins cradle their chick's egg on their feet through nine long weeks to keep them warm. Pinkerton, a Great Dane dreaming of his own flock of penguins, decides he is going to cradle a white football he has found. This he does until a dog biscuit distracts him, allowing the owner of the football to reclaim his equipment. As Pinkerton is being led home through the park, he spies another football and kidnaps it, busting through a dog show for good measure. He is located at the neighborhood ice rink, where he is sitting patiently for the football to hatch. A quick substitution by Granny (whose been sewing stuffed animals throughout the story) insures the return of the football and a successful hatching for Pinkerton. As an agent of mayhem, Pinkerton has no equal, and preposterous stories can be good fun, but this one just never gets on track: Pinkerton is too self-involved for the idea of fatherhood to seem appealing to him. Still, this gives Kellogg a chance to showcase his wonderfully busy, magnetic artwork. It keeps everything humming along on the visual plane so much so that there's no need for a real story to back it up. (Picture book. 4-7)

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

The irrepressible pooch returns. This time he mistakes a football for a penguin egg when his owner reports all she's learned about the animal and their young. But chaos follows when Pinkerton loses track of his baby. Ages 4-8. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Dec.)