When you see the illustrations of Oliver Jeffers in Lost and Found, you might think, "Hey, this looks familiar!" Oliver Jeffers is the illustrator of many books, most notably the series that starts with the book The Day the Crayons Quit. His illustrations are bright, colorful, and do a ton to set the tone/mood of the books he illustrates.
Lost and Found has a strikingly different color palette. It is mostly blue and white, with a few oranges, yellows, and reds. This more muted color scheme sets the tone for a book that is not happy. A young boy finds a penguin who seems to be lost. The penguin cannot communicate with the boy, so the boy tries to figure out what to do. He researches to find that penguins live a the South Pole, so he builds a rowboat to take the penguin back where it "belongs." Along the way, as they encounter rough seas and bad weather (that a real rowboat would never be able to handle), the boy tells plenty of stories to the penguin.
When they get to the South Pole, which conveniently has a big sign proclaiming it is the South Pole, the penguin gets out with the suitcase they packed, and the boy rows away. This is where the real problem in the story emerges: the problem isn't that the penguin is lost, it is that the penguin was lonely and wanted companionship. The boy realizes this when he realizes how lonely he is without someone to talk to and share stories with. He turns the boat around and rows back to the South Pole, not seeing that the penguin was following him (they are on opposite sides of an island when they pass each other). The boy gets back to the South Pole, only to find that the penguin is gone. He doesn't know that the penguin was following him until he sees the umbrella(!!!) in the water ahead. They reunite and continue their journey home.
Children's literature doesn't often have stories where the problem is not evident until the story is almost over. I really like that about this book. Loneliness is a tricky emotion for everyone, especially right now during COVID-19, and children sometimes don't know how to express that they are lonely, let alone know how to get what they need. It seems like the title of the book is the penguin's plight (he's lost and gets returned where he "belongs"), but Oliver Jeffers turned that idea on its head when he makes the true problem that both characters are lonely and need a friend. The color blue can evoke many emotions, but the use of different shades of blue shows the emotions in a way the characters cannot. It is a wonderful book that students love.