Mr Popper's Penguins

Mr Popper is a house painter in the summer, and an academic in the off-season. There is nothing he likes better than to    sit in his living room, surrounded by pictures torn from the National Geographic, reading his books about world exploration, and referring to the globe given to him by his children at Christmas. Occasionally, a polar expedition will broadcast an update on the radio.

            One evening, Admiral Drake broadcasts from the South Pole and informs Mr Popper, who has written him a letter of admiration, that a surprise is coming for him. And what a surprise it is! You guessed it, Admiral Drake has shipped him a penguin from Antarctica. And so the shenanigans begin!

            Mr Popper dubs the penguin Captain Cook, and when Captain Cook begins to suffer from ill health, an aquarium ships him a companion named Greta. Well, we all know what happens next. Ten baby penguins show up which are all aptly named after great world leaders and explorers. But times are hard. How to support a family of four people and twelve penguins? The solution is zany and may have your students rotfl.

            It's good to understand a little about this time period in history before diving in. We believe that we know most of what is to be known about the geography of the world, but at this time, the polar regions were still relatively unknown. There was a great interest in what they might be like; indeed, it was fashionable to be interested in the polar explorers and their journeys into the unknown. Notice that documentaries about polar exploration were being shown at the theater in the little town of Stillwater, much as the war newsreels were in the next decade.

            I'd like to address one particular objection I've heard recently to the character of Mr Popper. This involved his lack of familial involvement, and is due to reading a “historical” novel with a modern sensibility. It is only very recently that expectations for the head of the house changed to include being very involved in the parenting of small children. Remember, the character of Mr Popper was written during the Great Depression, when it was common for a husband and father to either be overworked and not even present, or to retire to his “library” and avoid household concerns altogether. Notice that Mrs Popper is irked during the off-season that Mr Popper interrupts her housekeeping and has to be “worked around.” For this reason, this concern about this particular novel doesn't alter my enjoyment of it because the character is true to the period, I believe.

            I recently read this book with my 5^th and last student, and found it as endearing and as humorous as when I first read it 45 years ago! I still think penguins would make entertaining pets and I can relate to Mr Popper, his desire to see the world, and his consternation at being stuck in an unassuming town like Stillwater for years upon years. For this reason, his eventual opportunity to travel is particularly satisfying.

            Lastly, this vibrant story is relatively short with many interspersed illustrations by the inimitable Robert Lawson so it made my FIRST NOVELS TO READ ALOUD as well as my HUMOROUS CHAPTER BOOKS booklists.

CONTENT CONSIDERATIONS

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