Penny Penguin is sad. She wants a friend to play with.

Looking outside of her window, Penny watches the other penguins playing and having fun.

Penny’s mom tells her to go outside and play with Sally, Nicky, and Peter.  Penny wants to, but she is afraid.

Penny thinks that will not like her and will laugh at her. So she won’t even try to talk to them.

Everyday Penny watches them playing wishing that they would ask he  to play too.

One bright sunny morning, Penny was playing with her red ball.

Penny was bouncing the ball when all of a sudden the ball bounced out of her hand, through the yard, across the street, and landed right in the middle of Sally’s yard.

Oh no! Penny did not know what to do. Sally, Nicky, and Peter began to play with her ball.

Penny felt a tear rolling down her cheek. She ran inside right into her mother’s arms.

And do you know what her mom said? That’s right! She told Penny to go over to Sally’s house and play too.

Penny just sat on her porch watching them play with her new red ball and cried.

She could not believe that they were playing with her ball.

The penguins stopped playing and looked at Penny.

“Why is she crying?”asked Peter.

“Maybe she is crying because we have her ball,” answered Sally.

“She’s crying because she is a baby!” yelled Nicky, loud enough for Penny to hear.

Penny did hear what Nicky said and this made her cry harder. She ran inside and slammed the door.

The next morning, Penny’s ball was on her porch with a note. The note said, “We are sorry we made you cry.”

Penny could not believe it. “Maybe they do like me!” thought Penny.  ”Maybe they want to be my friend after all.”

Running outside, Penny looked around for Sally, Nicky, and Peter, but she could not find them anywhere.

Sitting down on her porch Penny thought to herself, “Will I ever find a friend?”

Just as she was about to go inside, she heard someone calling her name. When she turned around she saw…

Sally, Nicky, and Peter waving to her from inside of Sally’s house. They were calling her over.

Penny shouted to her mother that she was going to play with her new friends at Sally’s house.

Penny, Sally, Nicky, and Peter played catch with Penny’s red ball. Then they played hopscotch, and hide and seek. They all had great fun together.

Her new friends asked Penny why she had cried the day before. She told them that she was afraid that they did not like her and that was why they played with her ball without giving it back.

Penny’s three new friends gave her a huge hug and told her that they would love to be her friend. That was why they used her ball, they wanted her to come over and play.

Penny was so happy. Instead of having one new friend, she has three new friends.