Pip the Penguin Learns to Share

Written with short sentences and lots of repeated words, this is one of those English reading stories for beginners that a new reader can almost read all by themselves. Point to the words as you go, slow and clear, and let your child join in on the parts they know. The more they read along, the prouder they will feel.

On a big white hill of snow lived a little penguin named Pip. Pip had a bright red sled. It was fast. It was shiny. It was the best sled on the whole snowy hill.

Pip loved his sled. He loved it so much that he did not want to share it. Not even a tiny little bit.

The best sled on the hill

"Whee!" said Pip, as he slid down the hill. "This is fun! This is so much fun!"

Pip's friends watched from the top of the hill. There was Tilly the seal, smooth and grey. There was Max the polar bear cub, big and fluffy. And there was little Bo, the smallest penguin of all.

"Can we have a turn, Pip?" asked Tilly.

"No," said Pip. "It is my sled. I want it all for me."

So Pip slid down the hill alone. Whee! Then Pip climbed back up the hill alone. Puff, puff, puff. Then Pip slid down again, all alone. Whee!

Alone is not much fun

At first, Pip was happy. But climbing up the big hill was hard work. Puff, puff, puff. And sliding down the hill all alone was a little bit… quiet.

There was no one to laugh with at the bottom. There was no one to race against. There was no one to say, "Wow, Pip! You are so fast!"

Pip looked up to the top of the hill. His friends were building a big snow fort. They were laughing. They were rolling great big snowballs. They were having so much fun together.

Pip slid down the hill one more time. Whee. But this time, the "whee" was small and sad.

A cold and lonely slide

Pip sat at the bottom of the hill all by himself. His flippers were tired. His feet were cold. And his tummy felt funny — not hungry funny, but lonely funny.

"I have the best sled in the world," Pip said quietly. "So why do I feel so sad?"

Just then, little Bo came sliding down the hill on her round tummy. Whoosh! Bo was not fast like Pip. But she was laughing and laughing all the way down.

"Come and play, Pip!" called Bo. "Come and build the snow fort with all of us!"

Pip looked at his shiny red sled. Then he looked at his happy friends. And Pip had a big, warm idea.

The big idea

Pip pulled his sled all the way up the hill. Puff, puff, puff. When he got to the top, all of his friends were there.

"Tilly," said Pip. "Would you like a turn on my sled?"

Tilly's eyes went wide and round. "Really? For me? Yes, please!"

"Max," said Pip. "Would you like a turn too?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" said Max, and he clapped his big furry paws.

"And Bo," said Pip. "Will you slide down with me? Two on the sled is more fun than one all alone."

Bo clapped her little flippers together. "Yes!"

Two on the sled

Pip and Bo sat on the bright red sled together. One, two, three — whee! Down the hill they went, faster than ever, with the cold wind in their faces and big happy smiles on their beaks.

"That was the best!" laughed Bo.

Then Tilly had a turn. Whee! Then Max had a turn. Whee! Then they all took turns, again and again and again, until the sun began to set and the whole snowy hill turned pink and gold.

Pip did not slide down alone even once more. And do you know what he found out? Sharing his sled did not make the fun smaller. It made the fun bigger. Much, much, MUCH bigger.

A race down the hill

"Let's have a race!" said Max. "Pip and Bo can go on the sled. I will run beside you!"

"Ready?" called Tilly from the top of the hill. "One, two, three — GO!"

Down the hill they flew. Pip and Bo went whoosh on the fast red sled. Max ran and rolled and tumbled along beside them. He was not as fast as the sled, but he laughed all the way down.

"Who won the race?" asked Bo at the bottom.

Pip thought about it. "We all won," he said. "Because we all had fun together!"

So they climbed back up the hill. Puff, puff, puff. But this time, the climbing did not feel like hard work at all. This time they puffed together, and they told silly jokes, and they laughed. And the big hill felt small and easy.

Building a snow fort together

Then Pip had another big idea. "Let's build a snow fort!" he said. "The biggest snow fort ever! All of us, together!"

"Yes!" said everyone.

So they got to work. They rolled big snowballs. Roll, roll, roll. Pip rolled one snowball. Bo rolled one snowball. Tilly rolled a bigger snowball. And Max rolled the very biggest snowball of all.

They stacked the snowballs up, up, up, to make big white walls. They made a little round door. They made a little square window. And right on the very top, Pip placed his shiny red sled, like a flag waving in the wind.

"It is the best fort in the whole wide world!" said Bo, clapping her flippers.

"It is," said Pip proudly. "And do you know why it is so good? Because we all built it together. One penguin could never build a fort this big all alone. But four friends can!"

Warm and cosy inside

Everyone cheered. Then they all squeezed inside their new snow fort together — Pip, and Bo, and Tilly, and Max — snug and warm and out of the cold, cold wind.

Bo looked around at all her happy friends. "This is the best day ever," she said.

"It is," said Pip. And he really meant it. He looked up at his red sled, waving on top of the fort. That morning, he had wanted to keep it all for himself. Now it belonged to everyone — and the whole day was ten times more fun because of it.

Pip smiled a big, wide penguin smile. Sharing, he thought, was the best idea he had ever, ever had.

One more slide together

"One more slide before the sun goes down!" said Pip. "But this time, let's ALL go together!"

"All of us? On one sled?" said Tilly.

"Let's try!" laughed Pip.

So they lined up on the red sled. Pip at the front. Then Bo. Then Tilly. And Max held on at the back. It was a squeeze. It was a wobble. It was very, very silly.

"One, two, three — WHEE!" they all shouted.

Down the hill they went, all four friends together, wibbling and wobbling and laughing so hard they nearly fell off. At the bottom, they tumbled into a big, soft, giggling heap in the snow.

"That," said Pip, "was the best slide of all. Because everyone was on it!"

The warmest day of all

At the end of the long, happy day, all the friends sat together at the top of the hill, watching the pink and golden sky.

"Thank you for sharing your sled, Pip," said Tilly, snuggling close.

"Thank you for playing with me," said Pip. "A sled is fun. But a sled with friends is the most fun of all. I don't want to play alone ever again."

And from that day on, Pip's red sled was not just Pip's sled anymore. It was everybody's sled. And the big white snowy hill was full of "whee!" and laughter and friends, all winter long, right up until the spring.

The moral of the story

Sharing does not make your fun smaller — it makes it bigger. The best games are always the ones we play together.

Reading tips for parents

Because it uses short sentences and repeats simple, decodable words like "sled," "hill," "whee," and "share," this is a lovely English reading story for beginners. Run your finger under each line as you read, and let your child echo the repeated words — most new readers can soon "read" the "Whee!" and "Puff, puff, puff" parts entirely on their own, which builds real reading confidence one page at a time.

As one of those short stories for kids with a clear, gentle lesson, it is also a warm way to talk about sharing without any lecturing. Ask, "How did Pip feel when he played alone? How did he feel when he shared?" For more early-reading practice with simple, repeated words and friendly characters your child will want to visit again, try the phonics and reading games on Mini Genius Club.