Pablo and Splash: Frozen in Time

Pablo and Splash: Frozen in Time

Sheena Dempsey

Bloomsbury, 2024

240pp., graphic novel, RRP $A17.99

9781526662804

Pablo and Splash are two penguins, and even though they are very different in that Pablo loves his icy home and Splash is sick of the cold, they both agree that a holiday would be a good thing.  But it’s tricky when you live at the bottom of the planet in Antarctica and warm places are too far to swim and without wings, you can’t fly.

But Antarctica means there are scientists nearby and surely they have a solution…  And that’s how they discover Professor O’Brain and her Timebender machine who sent them to the sunny beach they craved but they found themselves sharing it with dinosaurs.  In this second episode of the series, they decide to visit Professor O’Brain again to see if she has mended the machine, but both are determined that they will not end up in some weird destination this time, especially as this time they know where the secret hole takes them.  

However, instead of finding her in her lab as they expect, they discover the time machine has misbehaved again and this time it is the professor, herself, who has been stranded in the Ice Age.  Clearly, Pablo and Splash must help her  and so the brave penguin buddies set out on a rescue mission – destination 68,000 years ago! When a Neanderthal man accidentally wanders into their time machine, it’s not just the professor who is stuck in the wrong time period. But luckily a scientific breakthrough for Pablo and Splash’s endlessly upbeat approach to life’s challenges helps save the day!

Graphic novels, time travel and familiar, appealing creatures on a rescue mission are the right ingredients for a story that will engage young readers and with its bright, full-colour illustrations that carry the story along with just speech bubbles as text there will be many who could be enticed to pick up a novel-length book for the first time. 

As with the first one, it’s an opportunity for the reader to think of where the next adventure might take place, who or what Pablo and Splash might encounter and perhaps research and write their own story.  Perfect for the CBCA Book Week 2025 theme of Book an Adventure.