It may seem odd to some people given what I do for a living that I don’t have any children. My love of illustration and animation comes more from a misspent youth watching cartoons and drawing at every opportunity. So when I stumble upon a fantastic animation like this, it comes from just being a bit of a geek rather than because I’ve read the book version to my children and watched the film with them.

This fantastic story has been brought to life by Studio AKA inspired by the best selling book by Oliver Jeffers. The illustrations in the book are beautifully simplistic using an equally simple colour palette and the adaptation into film works perfectly. The music composed by Max Richter also works wonderfully with the animation. I’m sure many of you have already seen this animation as it is now four years old so I’m discovering it a bit late. However, better late than never in this case. It has also won 61 international awards including a BAFTA for The Best Children’s Animation.

It tells the story of a boy who finds a penguin at his door who appears to have lost his way. He then attempts a precarious journey to the North Pole to return the penguin home. For those who haven’t seen it, I won’t spoil it but it’s a heart-warming story that might just bring a tear to your eye.

Check out a little clip of it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaOqMuOTsOc

Photographs taken from the DVD