Marshmallow reviews Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater

Recently, Marshmallow reread the 1939 classic, Mr. Popper’s Penguins, which is about a man (Mr. Popper) that is sent a penguin by an Arctic/Antarctic explorer (Admiral Drake). A Newberry Honor recipient from 1939, this book was one of the first full-length books Sprinkles and Marshmallow read together many years ago. Written by Richard Atwater and Florence Atwater, and illustrated by Robert Lawson, the book still amused Marshmallow when she reread it recently, and she wanted to write about it for the book bunnies blog.

Marshmallow’s Overview: If you like books that are about penguins, then this might be the book for you.

Marshmallow’s Summary: One day, Mr. Popper of Stillwater, Minnesota, received in the mail a penguin. The penguin was mailed to him by the famous Antarctic explorer Admiral Drake. Mr. Popper often dreamed of polar explorations, and he had written to Admiral Drake about penguins.

Mr. Popper named the penguin Captain Cook because he kept on making a funny sound like “cook” when he came out of the box and because Mr. Popper loved explorers. (Captain Cook was named after a famous explorer named James Cook.) Mr. Popper had the fridge emptied so then Captain Cook could live inside of it. But soon the penguin started getting sick. Mr. Popper learned from the zoo that maybe Captain Cook was lonely. Then the zoo sent him a female penguin named Greta, and Captain Cook was no longer alone.

Soon Captain Cook and Greta had a family. After some time they had a total of twelve penguins to feed and Mr. Popper decided he needed to find a way to take care of them. He trained then to do tricks like climbing up and down a ladder or marching when Mrs. Popper played the piano. Eventually the penguins became a part of the Popper family. 

The back cover of the book summarizes the story well:

It was hard enough for Mr. Popper to support himself, Mrs. Popper, Bill and Janie Popper. The addition of twelve penguins to the family made it impossible to make both ends meet. Then Mr. Popper had a splendid idea. The penguins might support the Poppers. And so they did.

Marshmallow’s Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is a really cute book. It is also a classic, a timeless tale that will definitely warm the reader’s heart.

This is a great read for those who are looking for a book about penguins. It is a fiction book so it does not have facts about the intriguing species of different penguins, like the Blue Fairy Penguin or the Emperor Penguin, but Captain Cook and the rest of the his penguin family will entertain and intrigue the reader to learn more about penguins. (These flightless birds are adorable!) I especially liked how the authors made the penguins realistic and gave them personalities. For example, Captain Cook is a very curios penguin who likes to explore everything that he can lay his wings on. 

I also like the pictures in the book that show the events in the book happening. The pictures are like photos that are snapped right when the events are happening. For example, in one of the scenes Mr. Popper trips on Captain Cook’s leash and the picture in him falling down to the sidewalk he is walking on while Captain Cook is waddling away from the scene. 

I think that this book is for any age and is an easy read. Even so it is a book that will make people want to read and reread it over and over again because it is such a sweet story. It is, like I said an easier book to read, so I think it would be great for ages 6-9 but I think that adults would also enjoy it. 

Marshmallow’s Rating: 100%.