Penguin and house vol 1 by Akiho Ieda

Hayakawa and his pet Penguin, Pen-chan, live in a normal apartment while Hayakawa attends university classes. Pen is an amazing pet - he helps around the house, does the shopping, cooks delicious and elaborate meals, cleans the apartment and does Hayakawa's laundry, and tries to do everything he can to make Hayakawa happy. But, most days, Hayakawa doesn't notice what Pen-chan has done for him! Hayakawa's friends realize what a great penguin he has, but Pen's owner remains oblivious. 

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This adorable story is definitely a riff off Wallace and Gromit or an odd-couple-type story with one overly-capable character and other who is pretty hopeless. Pen-chan is incredibly adorable as he does all these chores. He has to adapt to do some of the work because he's so little and has tiny flippers. Hayakawa's friends are redeemable adults, but hopefully Hayakawa starts to realize how awesome Pen-chan is. The chapters are very short, and overall provide some feeling of iyashikei, so this is a pretty easy,  relaxing read that can leave readers with good feelings overall.

Kodansha rates this for 13+, but this first volume doesn't have anything inappropriate for younger readers.

Sara's Rating: 8/10
Suitability Level: Grades 4-12

Publisher: Kodansha
Publication Date: March 15th, 2022
ISBN: 9781646513468 (Paperback)

​Tags: Rating: 8/10, Suitability: Elementary School, Suitability: Middle School, Suitability: High School, Manga, Humor, Animals, Slice Of Life, Iyashikei, ​Kodansha