A pre-school in New Zealand has pulled a book from its shelves that had pictures of penguins in bondage gear.

A parent visiting the Sovereign Star Nursery and Preschool in Kaiapoi raised concerns about the book Gus and Waldo's Book of Love, The Press reports.

The pre-school has withdrawn the book but said young children reading it would be completely unaware of the significance of the clothing worn by the penguins.

The book is one of a series written by Italian author Massimo Fenati about two penguins, Gus and Waldo, but is not a children's book.

NZ Ministry of Education contacted the Kaipoi pre-school after the mother of a three-year-old was visiting the centre with her child.

"I was there looking at it as a prospective preschool for my child, when other kids there brought the book over to me from the shelf and asked me to read it. I looked at it and said, 'go choose another one'," Lana McLean told The Press.

A description on Amazon about another book in a series about the penguins says they go on a shameless quest for instant fame including streaking at a World Cup final and forming a boy band.

It is a description that led to the mix-up during ordering.

A statement from the pre-school's manager Brooke Philpott said: 'It is a humorous book depicting cartoon penguins that we had ordered wrongly thinking it was suitable for children given its use of brightly cartooned penguins. The offending bit that we did not spot until a much closer reading is that it depicts the two penguins in bondage gear.'

'The book is otherwise bright and funny.'