THE BATTLE OF THE WEREPENGUINS

Following the riddling prophecy of a seer, a werepenguin seeks a legendary silver tooth.

His mission: to battle the most powerful of all werepenguins and free penguin-kind from the clutches of evil. Bolt, the boy who is the chosen one destined to defeat the Stranger (the progenitor of penguin evil), can no longer run from danger or hide beneath his bed. He’s learned to control his violent urges, so now he must take his powers to new levels by harnessing the powers of the penguin-verse and stealing the tooth of the Ilversay Oothtay Ealsay, a silver seal tooth hidden somewhere in the depths of the whale dentists’ fortress. With his best friend, Annika (the world’s greatest bandit), and Capt. Blackburn (a borscht-loving pirate), he sails toward danger to face his greatest foe. Set in a parody version of Eastern Europe and narrated as a story within a story, this third installment brings the penguin caretaker’s tale to a downbeat resolution. An all-White human cast lessens the impact of the story’s message that everyone is “chosen” in some way. While the silly humor has moments of charm, it loses appeal when it relies upon mocking foreign accents and perpetuating cultural stereotypes, as with the fortuneteller who lives in a caravan and reads nonsensical, made-up tarot cards. Intermittent illustrations appear throughout the text to depict moments of drama.

A hit-and-miss trilogy closer.