Title :
Mr. Popper's Penguins
Author :
Richard and Florence Atwater
Age :
5-12 years
Read a
truly feel good children's book after a long time. Once again I owe the sheer
pleasure of reading a wonderful book to none other than my sister. She is the
one who introduced us to the creative world of Jeff Brown (Stanley series),
E.B.White(Charlotte's Web), Andrew Clements (Frindle) and many others. So when
this time she mentioned the title 'Mr. Popper's Penguins', I lost no time in
placing an order on Flipkart. It helps
that her first born is elder to my children so I get to inherit all the
collected wisdom of her experience with the elder child. The family is in US
and the mother and kids combo makes the best use of their local public library,
taking part in most of their reading programs as well.
Though I
have never seen a penguin in real life and I am sure most of the readers
haven't either, but based on whatever I have seen in pictures, movies, TV
programmes and other such sources, penguins have always appeared to me as very
gentle(wo)manly with well groomed hair(fur), shining black tuxedo kind coats,
snow-white fronts and sleek beaks. Just seeing them gives an impression that
they are always ready for a party or for an office presentation. And these are exactly the feelings of Mr.
Popper as he dreams of far away lands while reveling in his favourite pastime
of reading about the polar regions and the inhabitants of those regions.
A painter
by profession with limited resources, he knows he could never live his dream of
being in the midst of the polar creatures so he looks forward to devoting all
his free time reading about them.
While
listening to one of the radio programs Mr Popper hears his name called out when
Admiral Drake who happens to be exploring Antarctica actually answers Mr.
Popper's fan mail with a promise of a surprise. Shortly thereafter a surprise
package lands at the Mr. Popper's doorstep. Out comes a fine penguin who is
soon christened as Captain Cook by Poppers. The whole family gears up to make
their new guest comfortable in their home by letting Captain Cook sleep in the
specifically customized family freezer. One is lonely and two is company so
another penguin Greta from Zoo joins Captain soon to have a big family with
hime. Popper's family is thrilled to have them because Captain's family
including ten little penguins now have brought playfulness and cheerfulness in
the whole household but there are practical matters to take care of too and the
financial issues topped the list of their worries.
Mrs and
Mr Popper come up with a brilliant idea of training the penguins to organize a
show with them - 'Popper's Performing Penguins'. The unique show soon becomes a
rage and gets invited throughout the country but because of some unfortunate
misunderstanding Mr. Popper and his penguins end up in a jail. There is a sweet
twist in the tale at the end and Mr. Popper gets the lifetime opportunity to
live his dream of ages.
The book
was originally published in 1938 but a good story remains a good story no
matter what year it is. This is undoubtedly one of the finest books in the
children's literature space. The illustrations by Robert Lawson are par
excellence so do pick the one with illustrations by him. The easily
understandable language and the simplicity of the story would surely capture
all readers right from page one.
