What is the biggest animal in the world?

The blue whale.

Penelope K is baffled by the facts when she investigates which is the world’s biggest animal. Could it be a rabbit, a duck, an elephant or a giant chicken-fish? She puzzles and muddles over perspective and scale and becomes kerfuddled. Luckily, the facts are just enough for the child to piece together that the biggest animal in the world is a blue whale. And that’s a fact!

Why do dogs sniff so much?

Because their noses tell them so much more than people’s noses do.

Penelope K explores a world of smells when she’s asked why dogs sniff so much… smells of perfume, flowers, carrots and campfires. She learns that all smells are invisible, that sharks sniff out their dinner, that rabbits can smell exactly where they are and that every creature has its own distinctive smell. No wonder dogs sniff so much! Sniffing tells them all about who they’re with, where they are and where their dinner is!

How can I see the back of my head?

With two mirrors.

Investigating the question of how to see the back of your own head, leaves Penelope K confuzzled. She simply can’t do it. Is it because she needs eyes in the back of her head, or because hands can do two things at once or that she really needs a magic mirror?

What’s a boomerang for?

When you throw it, it comes back to you.

Penelope K’s investigations as to what boomerangs are for lead her to believe that they might fly like birds. However, it’s unwise to throw one unless an invisible stranger is there to throw it back again, as you might lose it forever. When the child returns and throws the boomerang himself everyone is amazed that it flies right back to him. Boomerangs are very special indeed. When you throw them they fly right back to you!