Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater

Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater is a classic children's chapter book.  The book was originally published in 1938 and a film based on it was released in 2011.

The main characters of the book are the Popper family and the penguins.  Mr. Popper is really interested in Antarctica and reads about it a lot and listens to a radio show broadcasted from Antarctica by an Admiral Drake.  In response to a letter Mr. Popper writes to the Admiral, the Admiral surprisingly sends Mr. Popper a penguin.

The Popper's care for the penguin like a pet and eventually the penguin ends up with a mate from a zoo and they have ten penguin babies.  In order to afford to feed and keep the penguins, the penguins begin to perform in a circus act.  The Popper family and the penguins have some adventures as they travel with the circus including ending up in jail.

In the end, it is decided the circus act is inappropriate for the penguins and instead the penguins and Mr. Popper go to the North Pole with Admiral Drake to possibly set up a penguin colony up there.

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