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The Penguin That Hated The Cold
Tired of always being cold, Pablo, a penguin, decides to move from the South Pole to a warmer climate.
42 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1944
3 people are currently reading
267 people want to read
About the author
Barbara Brenner
107 books12 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Barbara Brenner is a respected, award-winning author, specializing in works of both juvenile fiction and nonfiction educational material that deals with animals, nature, and ecology. Her interests range from the natural world (i.e. Thinking about Ants) to American history (e.g. Wagon Wheels), all of which are reflected in the wide scope of her work. Brenner discussed with Contemporary Authors Online her influences and how they have affected her literary career, concluding that “all the circumstances of my life conspired to make me a writer--just lucky, I guess.”
Brenner was born Barbara Lawrence on June 26, 1925, in Brooklyn, New York, to Robert Lawrence (a real estate broker) and Marguerite (Furboter) Johnes. Tragically, her mother died when Brenner was just a year old, and, according to Brenner, this has been a large influence on her career, with Contemporary Authors Online showing how this has added a certain level of “sensitivity” to her work. She also defines Brooklyn as a place which gave much “color” to her work, and where her father’s ambitions for her helped to develop Brenner’s intellectual curiosity.
Brenner attended Seton Hall College (now University) and Rutgers University from 1942-46, whilst also working as a copy editor at Prudential Insurance Co. from 1942 – 46. Her freelance work as an artist’s agent prepared her for a literary life, as after the birth of her two children she began work on her first book Somebody’s Slippers, Somebody’s Shoes, published in 1957. She followed this book with an educational picture book entitled Barto Takes the Subway, designed to improve reading comprehension and sight vocabulary.
Her artistic development continued when she began to collaborate with her husband, illustrator Fred Brenner, on The Flying Patchwork Quilt. Her next book, On the Frontier with Mr. Audubon, was selected by School Library Journal as “The Best of the Best” among children’s books published over 26 seasons. In a review of On the Frontier with Mr. Audubon, Paul Showers wrote in the New York Times Book Review that “Brenner again demonstrates her gift for invention and respect for facts . . . [it is] written in the polite but colloquial language of the frontier sketching in Audubon’s biographical background and recording events of the journey as they might have been observed by a serious, very perceptive 13- year-old.” One of her best-selling titles was Wagon Wheels (published in 1978), which deals with the trials and tribulations of a close-knit African American family. This true to life story is “exciting and realistic” according to Gisela Jernigan (writing in the children literature journal Booklist), and was named a 1978 American Library Association Notable Book.
Throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s Brenner continued to publish, many of her works being influenced by the careers and interests of her sons. Speaking to Contemporary Authors Online Brenner explains that as their sons are both grown, and their respective careers as a “biologist . . . and musician” have both had an influence on her writing (i.e. Dinosaurium 1993). In 1986, Brenner was honored with the Pennsylvania School Librarians’ Association’s Outstanding Pennsylvania Author Award. Brenner’s most celebrated book is a collection entitled Voices: Poetry and Art from around the World, for which she was chief editor. This book received an ALA Notable Book for Children mention and an ALA Best Book for Young Adults award. According to the Horn Book Guide from Spring 2001, “more than three hundred and fifty poems from six continents evoke the specific and the universal” with contributions from both “celebrated and unknown poets, Nobel prize winners, and children” allowing the book to demonstrate Brenner’s skill in celebrating “place” and the “shared feelings” of the people about whom the book is written.
Barbara Brenner is a respected, award-winning author, specializing in works of both juvenile fiction and nonfiction educational material that deals with animals, nature, and ecology. Her interests range from the natural world (i.e. Thinking about Ants) to American history (e.g. Wagon Wheels), all of which are reflected in the wide scope of her work. Brenner discussed with Contemporary Authors Online her influences and how they have affected her literary career, concluding that “all the circumstances of my life conspired to make me a writer--just lucky, I guess.”
Brenner was born Barbara Lawrence on June 26, 1925, in Brooklyn, New York, to Robert Lawrence (a real estate broker) and Marguerite (Furboter) Johnes. Tragically, her mother died when Brenner was just a year old, and, according to Brenner, this has been a large influence on her career, with Contemporary Authors Online showing how this has added a certain level of “sensitivity” to her work. She also defines Brooklyn as a place which gave much “color” to her work, and where her father’s ambitions for her helped to develop Brenner’s intellectual curiosity.
Brenner attended Seton Hall College (now University) and Rutgers University from 1942-46, whilst also working as a copy editor at Prudential Insurance Co. from 1942 – 46. Her freelance work as an artist’s agent prepared her for a literary life, as after the birth of her two children she began work on her first book Somebody’s Slippers, Somebody’s Shoes, published in 1957. She followed this book with an educational picture book entitled Barto Takes the Subway, designed to improve reading comprehension and sight vocabulary.
Her artistic development continued when she began to collaborate with her husband, illustrator Fred Brenner, on The Flying Patchwork Quilt. Her next book, On the Frontier with Mr. Audubon, was selected by School Library Journal as “The Best of the Best” among children’s books published over 26 seasons. In a review of On the Frontier with Mr. Audubon, Paul Showers wrote in the New York Times Book Review that “Brenner again demonstrates her gift for invention and respect for facts . . . [it is] written in the polite but colloquial language of the frontier sketching in Audubon’s biographical background and recording events of the journey as they might have been observed by a serious, very perceptive 13- year-old.” One of her best-selling titles was Wagon Wheels (published in 1978), which deals with the trials and tribulations of a close-knit African American family. This true to life story is “exciting and realistic” according to Gisela Jernigan (writing in the children literature journal Booklist), and was named a 1978 American Library Association Notable Book.
Throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s Brenner continued to publish, many of her works being influenced by the careers and interests of her sons. Speaking to Contemporary Authors Online Brenner explains that as their sons are both grown, and their respective careers as a “biologist . . . and musician” have both had an influence on her writing (i.e. Dinosaurium 1993). In 1986, Brenner was honored with the Pennsylvania School Librarians’ Association’s Outstanding Pennsylvania Author Award. Brenner’s most celebrated book is a collection entitled Voices: Poetry and Art from around the World, for which she was chief editor. This book received an ALA Notable Book for Children mention and an ALA Best Book for Young Adults award. According to the Horn Book Guide from Spring 2001, “more than three hundred and fifty poems from six continents evoke the specific and the universal” with contributions from both “celebrated and unknown poets, Nobel prize winners, and children” allowing the book to demonstrate Brenner’s skill in celebrating “place” and the “shared feelings” of the people about whom the book is written.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
June 27, 2024
Aww...forgot about this beloved childhood read read so many years ago! Loved it :)
July 27, 2019
I remember reading this as a kid too. I loved the cold, so I didn't understand this penguin.
August 21, 2013
You know I related to that penguin very deeply.
December 30, 2019
Pablo the penguin tries scheme after scheme to escape the ice and snow. Cute enough, but I think it would make a better cartoon than a book.
January 29, 2017
I think this story is about me in my past life as a penguin. As Pablo the penguin so aptly observes, "It's silly to be chilly." Could not agree more! Barbara Brenner's colorful book follows the journey of one determined penguin's efforts to seek refuge in a warmer climate. As I myself have relocated to Southern California, leaving behind the drizzly, gray skies of the Pacific Northwest, I have complete empathy for little Pablo. Tan trumps rust any day of the week!
Teachers of young children might use this story to discuss differences of opinions, perhaps introducing a fraction lesson by dividing the class into those who prefer cooler climates to those who are drawn to warmth.
Teachers of young children might use this story to discuss differences of opinions, perhaps introducing a fraction lesson by dividing the class into those who prefer cooler climates to those who are drawn to warmth.
October 26, 2010
this is one of my husbands most favorite childhood books. I was able to find a copy of it and he was ecstatic to be able to read it to our children. it is now one of their favorites too!
October 30, 2025
This was my absolute favourite book as a kid. I still think about it to this day. I ended up finding a copy of it for sale online and my mom bought it for me as a gift, turns out my husband also loved this book as a kid too! So nostalgic.
September 7, 2015
As a Southern Californian now living in Wisconsin, I can certainly relate to Pablo. Although the sentence transitions don't flow smoothly, this is one clever little book and the illustrations are comical and endearing. If a penguin could look disgruntled, Pablo would win hands-down. Children will delight in this little penguin's determination to change the circumstances and, on a broader level, there is something to be said about using one's ingenuity to challenge the status quo. Highly recommended.
March 28, 2014
As I was listening to my audiobook today about Ernest Shackleton's 1915 Endurance crew floating through the Antarctic on ice floes, I had a flashback to this book I loved from my early childhood. I haven't thought about it in over 30 years, but I remember clearly the wonderful illustrations of Pablo's igloo on his ever-shrinking bit of ice, and then the final page where he's in a hammock on a beach. I'm just so sad my children are already too old to appreciate this darling story!
September 5, 2015
This is the first book I learned to read on my own as a child (pre-k). I remember picking it out from the bookstore, insisting I would love it. I still love it and have a well-worn copy!
July 16, 2014
I never saw the Three Caballeros as a child and was deprived of this wonderful story of poor, clever, desperate Pablo the Penguin. Thankfully, the Spouse still had his childhood copy.
September 30, 2024
(children's picture book at my parents' place)
November 21, 2021
A childhood favorite, revisited with my nephews and niece--Grandma and Grandpa's house is a treasure trove of books we all enjoy!
Poor Pablo! This is a funny little story. The bathtub boat is the best!
Poor Pablo! This is a funny little story. The bathtub boat is the best!
January 1, 2026
This was the first book I ever read on my own.
January 4, 2024
Eh, I wasn't charmed by this. And the artwork makes the book look dirty and gross. The writing style also confused me because at times it sounds like it's supposed to rhyme, and then it doesn't continue for the whole page. It was weird.
December 29, 2014
I am writing this review during the early morning hours of a late December day in Illinois. My fingers and toes are cold, despite bathrobe pockets and slippers. No matter how much I raise the temperature on the thermostat, I can't win against the persistent chill that seeps in through door and window frames. Stepping outside is about as much fun as taking an icy cold shower.
So, I sympathize with our poor protagonist Pablo, the title character of Barbara Brenner's adapted book from the world of Disney. (It is based on a short film from 1945, called "The Cold-Blooded Penguin," from the film, "The Three Caballeros.") Pablo is not like other penguins in the South Pole. He does not like to swim and catch fish in icy water, or ski or ice skate. His outdoor activity of choice is splitting logs for the stove in his igloo.
But Pablo does venture out into the Great Outdoors, for the journey of a lifetime after deciding to take fate into his own mittened flippers. "It is silly to be chilly. I will go where I can be warm all the time," he says to himself. Carpe diem, Pablo!
As many of us would agree, staying warm is a cumbersome, taxing business, but to do so while traveling is especially challenging. An example would be, skiing like Pablo, with an old fashioned wood-burning stove tied to your back. But somehow the resilient penguin and his red pompom knit cap seem to hang on, in part because his fellow penguins graciously get him out of scrapes that involve, among other things, being suspended upside down and frozen like a Popsicle.
Will this cold-averse, flightless bird make it to warmer climes or will his dreams stay frozen in a sheet of ice? Regardless of the outcome, he is a hero we can all root for, as one who marches to the beat of his own drum. Children may see in Pablo someone who sets his own course. Even if everybody at your school likes soccer and you want to scuba dive, well then, scuba dive. Be determined to pursue what makes you happy.
This book has made my family and me smile, since my siblings and I were children. It is a cheerful story about a gutsy little guy and despite the obvious cold temperatures depicted in the book, I always found Pablo's igloo charming and inviting. The colorful illustrations and story brighten even a gray, gloomy winter day.
So, I sympathize with our poor protagonist Pablo, the title character of Barbara Brenner's adapted book from the world of Disney. (It is based on a short film from 1945, called "The Cold-Blooded Penguin," from the film, "The Three Caballeros.") Pablo is not like other penguins in the South Pole. He does not like to swim and catch fish in icy water, or ski or ice skate. His outdoor activity of choice is splitting logs for the stove in his igloo.
But Pablo does venture out into the Great Outdoors, for the journey of a lifetime after deciding to take fate into his own mittened flippers. "It is silly to be chilly. I will go where I can be warm all the time," he says to himself. Carpe diem, Pablo!
As many of us would agree, staying warm is a cumbersome, taxing business, but to do so while traveling is especially challenging. An example would be, skiing like Pablo, with an old fashioned wood-burning stove tied to your back. But somehow the resilient penguin and his red pompom knit cap seem to hang on, in part because his fellow penguins graciously get him out of scrapes that involve, among other things, being suspended upside down and frozen like a Popsicle.
Will this cold-averse, flightless bird make it to warmer climes or will his dreams stay frozen in a sheet of ice? Regardless of the outcome, he is a hero we can all root for, as one who marches to the beat of his own drum. Children may see in Pablo someone who sets his own course. Even if everybody at your school likes soccer and you want to scuba dive, well then, scuba dive. Be determined to pursue what makes you happy.
This book has made my family and me smile, since my siblings and I were children. It is a cheerful story about a gutsy little guy and despite the obvious cold temperatures depicted in the book, I always found Pablo's igloo charming and inviting. The colorful illustrations and story brighten even a gray, gloomy winter day.
June 11, 2020
We use this book in our Antarctica continent box to go along with our penguin study. The book is complete fiction, but a fun read with a penguin as the main character.
A step further than just a "fun book": Discussion idea for this book would be to talk about doing your own thing. The Penguin does not like the cold, as most penguins do, and sets out to find what makes him happy. He stumbles along the way but eventually finds what makes him happy.
A step further than just a "fun book": Discussion idea for this book would be to talk about doing your own thing. The Penguin does not like the cold, as most penguins do, and sets out to find what makes him happy. He stumbles along the way but eventually finds what makes him happy.
February 11, 2008
This is the first book I learned how to "read" because I made my parents read it to me over and over and over again every night. I practically memorized all of the pages before I actually learned how to properly read it.
November 23, 2007
This is the first book I ever read and I still have it, still love it.
June 2, 2008
Loved this book as a child. Cute story, fun illustrations.
February 7, 2009
My favorite part was when he finally got tot he hot place where he wanted to be. My bad part was when he was hanging down off of a cliff.
October 30, 2009
My son loves this book. I read it to him at night before bed.
September 19, 2012
My all-time favorite book as a kid
April 19, 2017
I loved this book as a kid. :)
April 1, 2017
Probably the first book I remember being read to me and the first I ever loved.
Pablo and Eeyore may have been my first role models ;-)
Pablo and Eeyore may have been my first role models ;-)
January 30, 2016
I have always hated the winter so it may come as a surprise to you that I related to this book rather strongly.
March 31, 2019
This was a childhood favorite. As a kid, I hated the cold. Still not fond of the cold; give me a hot sunny day anyday of the year.
January 15, 2020
One of my childhood favorites.
November 21, 2022
This book is about a penguin that is different from all the other penguins. Unlike all the other birds, Pablo dislikes the cold and would rather be somewhere warm. Pablo is determined to leave the frosty South Pole to find a new place to live that is warm and tropical. He attempts many ways to travel across the sea, but unfortunately does not succeed the first few times. The text and illustrations are symmetrical and align with one another. The pictures visually show what the words are saying and visa versa. I really like this book because it teaches the audience that it is okay to be different and stand out. Pablo stayed true to himself and ended up following his dream to where he wanted to be from the start. This book could be incorporated into a science unit on seasons and the arctic as well as to teach about determination. Students could write about how Pablo was determined throughout the story.
September 25, 2020
My mother gave me the passion to read.She would reward me for good behavior with books. She would write the date/ place we lived inside the books at the time. My favorite two books as a child was "The Penguin That Hated The Cold" (1973 ).My mother read every night to me. I always felt this story was about me in my past life as a penguin. As Pablo the penguin so aptly observes, "It's silly to be chilly." Could not agree more! Barbara Brenner's colorful book follows the journey of one determined penguin's efforts to seek refuge in a warmer climate. As I myself have relocated to Sunny Florida, leaving behind the drizzly, gray skies of the Tennessee, I have complete empathy for little Pablo. Tan trumps rust any day of the week!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews