Growing New Plants

A True Story

When Pierre, an African penguin living at the California Academy of Sciences, begins to go bald, the staff is worried.

The lack of feathers causes Pierre to lose warmth, making him afraid to swim in the aquarium pool. And the other penguins start to shy away, giving Pierre the “cold” shoulder. Unfortunately, heaters and medications fail to correct the situation.

But one rainy day, inspiration strikes a biologist named Pam. While walking her dog in the rain, Pam notes that her pet wears a raincoat. Could a raincoat, or wetsuit, help Pierre?

A tiny neoprene wetsuit is designed especially for Pierre. But will it work?

Told in rhyme by noted
I SPY
author, Jean Marzollo, and paired with gorgeous paintings from noted wildlife artist, Laura Regan, this true story of veterinary ingenuity charmingly comes to life.

A True Story

Written by
Jean Marzollo
and illustrated by
Laura Regan

This book is dedicated to Pierre the Penguin, Senior Aquatic Biologist Pam Schaller,
and all the other people at San Francisco's California Academy of Sciences—an aquarium,
planetarium, and natural history museum all under one roof. The people there love our world.
They study it and share with others what they learn. They are very happy to share with
you in this book what they have learned about penguins.

For the kids and teachers at Haldane Elementary School and the Philipstown Recreation
Learning Center, my thanks for your helpful feedback. For Irene O'Garden, my thanks for your poetic advice.
For Aimee Jackson at Sleeping Bear Press, thanks for all of your help and encouragement.

J. M.

For Peter, my own Pierre, with love!

L. R.

This is the true story of Pierre, a small penguin in a big museum.

It is also about the people at the California Academy of Sciences who worked together to help him through a hard time.

Down at the end of African Hall, past statues of animals big and small,

there's an aquarium wide and tall, with real live penguins, 20 in all!

African penguins don't like ice.

For them, a warmer place is nice.

Here comes Pam with fish in her pail.

The penguins are fed twice a day without fail.

Pam enters the tank through the sky-painted wall.

A hidden door there leads out to a hall.

Some of the penguins look just the same.

Wing bands help Pam call the birds by name.

One day aquatic biologist Pam, observing the penguins, saw one in a jam.

Gently, gently, she examined Pierre.

His feathers were gone.

His bottom was bare.

Pierre was afraid to go for a swim.

He'd get too cold if he dived right in.

“How can I help you? What can I do?”

Pam had ideas and tried the first two.

She tried a heater, and the vet prescribed pills.

But nothing worked.

Pierre shivered still.

The other penguins grew afraid of Pierre.

He looked so strange that he gave them a scare.

They brayed at him as he shivered on shore.

They made him feel worse than he felt before.

One rainy day biologist Pam came up with a new idea—Shazam!

“My dog wears a raincoat,” she told the vet.

“Could Pierre wear a wetsuit?” The vet said, “You bet!”

Pam and a friend worked day and night to make a pattern that fit just right.

Then a wetsuit was made of neoprene—the tiniest one you've ever seen.