Don't Give Up Josephine!
Written by Hans Wilhelm, Illustrated by Hans Wilhelm,
Page 1
Josephine was a young penguin who lived where there was always ice and snow. Even in summer. Many penguins lived there, but Josephine spent most of her time with other animals. The other animals knew so many exciting games.
Page 2
Sometimes after a speed-skating race, they would slide down an iceberg and into the water to cool off. That was fun too!
Page 3
Josephine's friends could do all sorts of things, and she was not afraid to try them either. She learned quickly and in no time she was able to play all the games her friends liked.
Page 4
Whether it was badminton.. or boxing...
Page 5
...or just racing across the ice, Josephine always had a wonderful time with her friends.
Page 6
When Josephine went water-skiing, all the penguins watched.
Page 7
Her mother and father watched too. They shook their heads sadly. They wished that she would start being more like other penguins.
Page 8
Then one day the penguins could hardly believe their eyes. Flying high in the sky were two big sea gulls, and Josephine.
"That does it! She has had her way long enough," said Josephine's father.
Page 9
"It's time she went to school to learn what every penguin must learn," he added.
"I couldn't agree more," said Josephine's mother.
Page 10
That evening Josephine's mother and father had a talk with her.
"We know how much you enjoy playing all kinds of games and how good you are with them," said her mother, "but there are other things you must learn."
Page 11
"Tomorrow we are taking you to Madame Penguinova's school," said her father. "She is the best teacher of penguin ballet in the world."
Page 12
"But Daddy, I don't want to go to school. And I don't want to be a dancer," said Josephine.
"You are going to school and that is that!" said her father, and he marched off.
Page 13
Madame Penguinova was very happy to have Josephine in her class. She thought Josephine could be a good dancer. "But you will have to work at it," she told Josephine.
"Work!" thought Josephine. "That doesn't sound like much fun."
Page 14
"Today class, we are going to do the butterfly dance," said Madame Penguinova. "Pretend you're a little yellow butterfly fluttering from flower to flower."
Josephine took a long time putting on her ballet shoes. She wondered how a butterfly flutters.
Page 15
Finally she joined the class.
Page 16
But as hard as she tried,
Page 17
...she was not very good at being a butterfly.
Page 18
After school Josephine dragged her ballet shoes in the snow all the way home. She felt miserable. "What a stupid thing," she thought. "Pretending to be a butterfly!"
Page 19
The next day the class did the duckling dance.
Page 20
Josephine was not very good at being a duckling either.
Page 21
"The duckling dance is even harder than the butterfly dance," she thought as she trudged home after school. "I hate having to do things I'm not good at!"
Page 22
The next day Josephine tried her best to do the dance of the flowers. But she felt more like a wilted weed.
Page 23
She couldn't wait for the class to end, and the moment it did she ran off. She wanted to be alone. "I will never be any good at school. I'm a failure. A real flop," she thought.
Page 24
She began sniffling and two big tears ran down her beak. "What will I tell Mom and Dad? And my friends, they will all laugh at me when they hear how bad I am!" she cried.
Page 25
"No, we won't!" barked the seal. All of Josephine's friends gathered around her.
Page 26
"You are trying your best and nobody can ask for more than that," the walrus said.
Page 27
"It takes time to learn new things," said the polar bear.
Page 28
"Don't give up, Josephine!" said a snow bunny.
Page 29
"You can do it. We know you can do it!" they all said together. Josephine was not sure she could do it, but she thanked her friends and began to feel a little better.
Page 30
The next day Madame Penguinova said, "Today, class, we are going to be snow bunnies." She turned on the music and the little penguins lined up.
Page 31
"One, two, three, and one, two, three, now begin the snow bunny hop," said Madame Peguinova.
Page 32
Josephine thought about her friends the snow bunnies. "I know how to be a snow bunny," she said.
Page 33
And she was the best snow bunny in the class!
Page 34
Soon the other little penguins were following Josephine. Madame Penguinova was so pleased that she also joined in the snow bunny hop. When the music ended everyone praised Josephine. "The snow bunny hop is the hardest dance of all," said her classmates. "If you can do it, you can do it all the other dances too!"
Page 35
Madame Penguinova smiled at Josephine. "My dear, keep up the good work. You have real talent." After school all the little penguins wanted to walk with Josephine.
Page 36
Josephine took them to meet her friends. She said to her old playmates, "I think it's time you all started to learn something new. It may be hard at first, but it gets easier. And it's fun!" Then Josephine and her penguin friends showed all the other animals how to do penguin ballet.
Page 37
All the animals loved being dancers...all except the walrus. He hated his tutu.
