Since its publication in 2007, Polly Dunbar’s Penguin has won a clutch of book awards from the likes of Nestle, Practical Pre-School and the Booktrust.

So the picture book was a natural choice for Polly and former college mate Katherine Morton’s third Long Nose Puppets family show, following successful adaptations of Polly’s Flyaway Katie in 2007 and her mother Joyce’s book Shoe Baby in 2006.

Penguin is launching its Christmas run on Sunday at Komedia, before embarking on a national tour, culminating in shows at the 2010 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

“Out of all my books it has been the most popular,” says Polly during a break from rehearsals. “It is our third show so we know what we are doing, and we are having a lot of fun with the story.”

Penguin tells the tale of a young boy, Ben, who receives a penguin as a present.

Despite Ben’s attempts to tickle him, pull faces and sing silly songs not a word leaves the penguin’s beak.

“We have had a lot of fun within the narrative boundaries,” says Polly. “It’s all about a character who can’t speak, which means everything else can be fabulous and extraordinary in contrast to the penguin.”

This show sees Long Nose Puppets experiment with shadow puppetry and projections, although some elements remain the same – such as the home-made hand puppets and the specially written songs by Gomez’s Tom Gray.

“This will be Tom’s third show with us,” says Polly. “He’s very much part of the team.”

Long Nose Puppets’ history dates back ten years, when Polly and Katherine both studied illustration at the University of Brighton.

“We always talked about working together,” says Polly. “Katherine loves 3D and making mechanisms, whereas I love characters. So we thought we could bring those two things together and make a puppet show.

“It came out of something that was purely for enjoyment – we didn’t have any plans for setting up a puppet theatre. There was no pressure.”

The germ for Penguin the book came from a present of a Parisian black velvet 1930 penguin Polly was given by her brother Ben. “He told me to be careful because he bites,” says Polly.

“It was such a hilarious thing. I’ve still got the original toy, but he’s tucked away in a box because he’s quite fragile.”

The show features plenty of audience participation, as youngsters are encouraged to get the penguin talking.

The voices for the story are provided by Polly’s book editor as the narrator, and a young busker called Harvey Badger who Polly heard playing outside Long Nose Puppets’ Brighton studio, playing Ben.

“He’s 12 years old and completely convincing as the character,” says Polly. “We heard him busking and thought, ‘That’s Ben!’.”

With the company currently producing a new show every two years, their thoughts are slowly turning to their next project.

“With this show people trust us and have booked us without having seen it,” says Polly. “The audiences are growing up with us and bringing their siblings.

“We are toying with ideas, but we haven’t set anything down yet. Once this is all finished we might have a play around with some new things.”

* Starts 2pm (except Monday, December 28), 4pm Sunday, 11am (Monday to Wednesday, December 30), tickets £6.50/£8.50. Call 0845 2938480.