Mr. Popper's Penguins

Mr. Popper's Penguins #1

by Richard Atwater, Florence Atwater, Robert Lawson

The classic Newbery Honor book that inspired the hilarious Jim Carrey movie--and a childhood favorite book for generations.

Mr. Popper's Penguins is one of the handful of American books for children that has attained the status of a classic. A humble house painter is sent a male penguin by the great Admiral Drake and, thanks to the arrival of a female penguin, soon has twelve penguins living in his house. First published in 1938, Mr. Popper's Penguins has amused and enchanted generations of children and their parents.

Genres: Childrens, Fiction, Classics, Middle Grade, Animals, Humor, Young Adult

139 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1938

About the author

Richard Tupper Atwater (1892-1948) was a Chicago journalist. He wrote for a number of newspapers including the Chicago Evening Post, the Chicago Daily News, the Chicago Tribune, and the Herald-Examiner. He contributed to the literary and arts magazine The Chicagoan. He also taught Greek at the University of Chicago. In 1932, after watching a documentary about Richard E. Byrd's Antarctic expedition, he began writing the first part of the book but was forced to stop due to a stroke he suffered in 1934. Other books by Richard Atwater include Rickety Rhymes of Riq (published in 1925) and Doris and the Trolls (published in 1931)

Reviews

[Robin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Obviously, I am taking this too seriously, but I found the financial ineptitude of Mr. Popper most distressing.

[emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book is a testament to the power of human selfishness. someone tell mr popper that maybe those penguins didn't WANT to hang out with him. maybe they wanted to be MY friend. maybe mr popper should have invited ME to his penguin house sometime.

on the upside this is the funnest cutest book on earth and i love it.

this is part of a project i'm doing where i write reviews of books i read a long time ago, blah blah blah, i'm going to go watch videos of penguins now.

[Evan Schwenk · Rating 5 out of 5]

The single greatest book of my childhood. (Nerd alert warning)...This will explain how much I enjoyed this book. When I first read it, I had inherited a copy from one of my older siblings. They had written their name in the front of it, because our mother has a weird obsession with putting our names on everything that was ours (especially books and clothes). When I was sent home with one of the scholastic book buy handouts (which I was obsessed with), I told my mom that we did not own the book. Yes...I lied to my mother in order to buy a seven dollar book when I was in third grade just so that I could put my name on the front cover. Still a little proud of that moment

[Manybooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

To tell the truth, I never did read Richard and Florence Atwater's 1939 Newbery Honour winning novel Mr. Popper's Penguins as a child, and while I have in fact mildly enjoyed much if not most of the Atwaters' presented text as a sweet and humour-full animal/people interaction tale, and can also understand why and how it is considered a classic and much beloved by many, as an older adult reading Mr. Popper's Penguins for the very first time, the ending, with the penguins being sent to the Arctic just absolutely and totally rubs me the wrong way, and indeed, to the point that my emerging enjoyment of much of Mr. Popper's Penguins (even with its datedness and issues of gender stratification) has sadly been completely rendered pretty much null and void due to this.

For let's face it, penguins are NOT Arctic but Antarctic animals and the idea of Mr. Popper's penguins being sent to the Arctic is basically a case of having an invasive animal species artificially and deliberately transplanted into the Arctic, into a cold environs, yes, but still into an environment that for all intents and purposes is not the penguins' home and native land (and where they, where the penguins might very well and even likely negatively interfere with native Arctic bird species like dovekies, puffins, razorbills and the like). And while in 1938/1939, the problems, the potential and serious consequences of invasive animal (and plant species) were of course not yet a commonly considered issue and as such a scenario to be avoided, I personally just have not been able to read Mr. Popper's Penguins without my late 20th and early 21st century eyes, without my ever increasing annoyance at the havoc invasive species have caused and are still causing to and for ecosystems around the world to be able to read and appreciate Mr. Popper's Penguins and especially with its ending as simply a fun and engaging classic animal themed tale (because I just do NOT even remotely understand why Admiral Drake and by extension Mr. Popper could not have taken the Penguins back to the Southern Hemisphere, to the Antarctic, or to the southern reaches of South America, to an area where penguins are meant to live, are endemic and native). And thus, albeit I do feel a bit guilty and will even apologise to readers who love and adore Mr. Popper's Penguins, only two stars for me, as the ending, as where the penguins end up being sent in Mr. Popper's Penguins, it really does make me continuously cringe on a biological and ecological level, the fun and humour, the gentle entertainment of the story quite majorly and wholly, utterly notwithstanding (and well, that Mrs. Popper is seemingly absolutely fine with her husband basically being gone for years is also a bit strange, but actually, while this does somewhat bother me, it does not chafe even remotely as much as the fact that the penguins are being sent to the North, to the Arctic).

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to re-reading Mr. Popper’s Penguins; however, as soon as I started reading this delightful book, I realized that I had never read it as a child. Good thing that I was able to make up for that omission now, in late middle age!

House painter Mr. Popper has always longed to be a polar explorer; after a letter to Antarctic explorer Admiral Drake, the admiral ships Mr. Popper a clever Gentoo penguin. The new arrival, dubbed Captain Cook after the English explorer, proceeds to change the lives of the Popper family in every way. I completely enjoyed Mr. Popper’s fulfilling his dream and appreciated the long-suffering Mrs. Popper. I believe that, even 70 years later, children would still love this book — and its intelligent, gentle penguins. Surely, they’d envy the Popper children, Janie and Bill, who get to frolic with a flock of penguins!

In 1939, Thimble Summer won the Newbery Award, and Mr. Popper’s Penguins was named a Newbery Honor book. The latter has never been out of print. Please see if you agree with me that the authors of Mr. Popper’s Penguins, Richard and Florence Atwater, were robbed.

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why have I shelved this as Hallowe'en read?

Page 7, paragraph 4, second sentence: "I have papered all the rooms in the new apartment building on Elm Street"

So, I had no problem cracking this open except, except, except...

the copy I have been sent, contrary to what I ordered, is this movie tie-in version and there are photos from the film in the middle.





The story itself is lovely fun with only a couple of domestic violence against penguin scenes; perfect for reading outloud.

[Mari Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

There has apparently been a resurgance in interest in this 1938 childrens' book since I have been seeing it everywhere I go. Since I never read it growing up I thought I would give a read.

The story while cute and age appropriate for 4-8 y/o seemed inadequate in some way... even for a kid's book. The ending totally turned me off of the book altogether (the father leaves for the Arctic for a year or two with barely a good-bye.) Maybe that was the whole problem I had with the book. The father was so obsessed with the penguins that his family always came in second. This might seem cute and funny in a children's make believe story but in the real world when a parent spends their last dime on a hobby or obsession to the detriment of their family it just isn't so funny.

[Mariel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I made all my pets read this to try and make them understand that they need to support ME for a change. It's not a good book for getting the good life, unfortunately. It's cute enough, though. It was cute in a good way, not the "Wild hijinks ensue!" sitcomy problems way. I think birds cause an awful lot of problems. It was good that the book took that problem seriously. I also liked that Mr. Popper was obsessed and got into the spirit of his hobby. I love to know that kind of stuff about people. I've fallen "in love" with places like that all of the time.

[Shala Howell · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Four-Year-Old is just beginning to be interested in having chapter books read to her. But as she gets stressed out by conflict of any sort, it's kind of tough finding good candidates for her. This is a winner.

For those of you who haven't read the book, the basic premise is that a house painter who spends his off-hours reading about (and writing to) explorers in the South Pole receives a penguin in the mail from one of those explorers. Since his work is over for the winter, he becomes very involved in the comfort and care of said penguin (and the eleven other penguins that quickly follow). In the end, he transforms his basement into an ice rink (an idea my daughter wholeheartedly supports, by the way), and spends more than his wife ever thought possible on fish and canned shrimp.

I won't tell you how an out-of-work house painter manages to pay for all that (wouldn't want to spoil the ending), but I will say that the process is highly entertaining for all involved. I found myself looking forward to each night's installment of Mr. Popper nearly as much as The Four-Year-Old.

Although I personally found the ending to be highly improbable, The Four-Year-Old saw nothing at all the matter with it--except for that little bit of unpleasantness with the policemen and firemen--and has spent many a happy evening reenacting the finale in the bathtub.

And now, if you will excuse me, I need to go read Mr. Popper's Penguins to The Four-Year-Old again. I promised her I would as soon as I finished writing the review.

(Excerpted from review posted on my blog: Caterpickles-Scientific & Linguistic Engagement with a 4-Year-Old Mind)

[Loretta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really quite a cute story 🐧! Expected a better ending but for a children’s book, I guess it was okay. 😊

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been aware of this book's existence since I was a kid, but somehow I never got around to reading it. The past few months the kids and I have been on an "animal stories" kick for our bedtime reading, but of course we like funny animal books, not dead dogs and horses, so I turned to this.

What a little gem! I honestly didn't know what this book was about, except for what you can glean from the title (there's a guy, named Mr. Popper, he has penguins). The story of how he gets the penguins, and what they do to take care of them, is delightful! What also brought it to my attention was that it is illustrated by my beloved Robert Lawson! So cute! And the short chapters are perfect for bedtime reading. We were actually able to read 2 chapters every night, in 15 about minutes.

[Wendy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this one growing up, enough that I decided to read it to my 4 year old. He's enjoying the wacky hijinks well enough, but there are SO MANY things that completely miss the mark for this particular adult re-reader in the 21st century. It helps (somewhat) to realize that this book came out in 1938 and was probably considered scientifically-minded for the times...I guess? Was it unremarkable for the 30's that not a single towns-person could recognize a penguin on sight?

There's a niche yet vocal Reddit community denouncing the character of Grandpa Joe from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (he's worse in the film than the book imo), and honestly, Mr. Popper is of a similar selfish stripe. His financial habits are pretty effing terrible, as are his thoughts on animal welfare. Drill an air hole in your refrigerator so you can keep birds in there. Feed your exotic pets in lieu of your own kids. Purposely flood your house, leave the windows open all winter and make everyone wear overcoats inside. That's cool.

So when his penguin inevitably gets sick, he writes to an aquarium to ask for help, and the aquarium manager...get this...SENDS HIM ANOTHER EFFING PENGUIN BECAUSE IT'S LONELY. That's right, the aquarium which is better suited to handle a wild animal doesn't TAKE the penguin. NO. It GIVES MR EFFING POPPER ANOTHER ONE he can CLEARLY not afford to keep.

So then our brave hero racks up credit to install a big damn freezer in his basement, and buy fresh fish, and at some point his poor suffering wife is like hey, we have no money, maybe we should umm...eat these penguins? *hint hint*

And by then these penguins have had ten chicks, and are eating fresh seafood daily while the kids have presumably eaten each other by now. What's a Popper to do? There's only one solution, clearly. He has to EXPLOIT the shit out of these penguins, traveling the country with a circus act after roping his long-suffering wife in to play a piano accompaniment. And she says she hasn't played since before she was married. That's...effing bleak, folks.

At long last this Popper mofo decides to leave his suffering family for two years (they must be so thrilled) to release his penguins in the ARCTIC (where they do not live). His first penguin arrived as a random and inappropriate gift from an Admiral Drake (not Sir Francis Drake, it's okay, I was confused too), from the ANTARCTIC. But...why? He knows where they come from. Gah. He's supposed to be this big reader who obsesses over antarctic lit. But he's a dumbass.

Seriously, skip this one and go read aloud Winnie-the-Pooh to your kids instead.

[note: the illustrations are great. That's about it]

[Katja Labonté · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars (5/10 hearts). As an adult, it was a bit difficult to stuff down my annoyance at Mr. Popper's irresponsibility and at the unrealisticality of this book. But as a child, I LOVED it. It is absolutely hilarious and even a little cute and sweet. It's a children's book and must be read through the eyes of a child. My little siblings loved it, and I can’t wait to read it to my children. <3

A Favourite Humorous Quote: “‘P-e-n-g-u-i-n,’ said Mr. Popper. ‘Penguin.’
“‘Oh!’ said the voice. ‘You mean that Captan Cook’s first name is Benjamin?’
“‘Not Benjamin. Penguin. It’s a bird[.”]
“‘Do you mean,’ said the phone in his ear,’ that Captain Cook wishes a license to shoot birds? I am sorry. The bird-hunting season does not open until November. And please try to speak a little more distinctly, Mr.—Topper, did you say your name is?’
‘My name is Popper, not Topper,’ shouted Mr. Popper.
“‘Yes, Mr. Potter. Now I can hear you quite distinctly.’
“‘Now listen,’ roared Mr. Popper, now completely outraged. ‘If you folks at the City Hall don’t even know what penguins are, I guess you haven’t any rule saying they have to be licensed. I will do without a licence for Captain Cook.’”

[Krista · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun read-aloud with the kids I nanny.

[Rebekah Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

So much fun! I had read it as a child, but didn't remember much, so reading it again now was enjoyable.
No, it's not realistic, but if you go into it knowing that and are reading it just because it's fun, then the idea of having penguins living in your basement brings a smile.

[Lesle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the few books I had in my possession as a child.

Mr Popper is a house decorator (painter) and during the winter the season is over (no work). He and Mrs Popper have two children, a boy and a girl. Mrs Popper tries her best to make ends meet during his down time.
This is the time that Mr Popper is reading about the South Pole. He writes a letter to the Drake Exploration. He is mentioned on the radio broadcast and Admiral Drake sends him a thank you by the way of a Penguin.
All kinds of exciting things happen with Captain Cook and the family. Mrs Popper has the patience of Job. Needless to say CC is bored and lonely and a Zoo gives Mr Popper a female named Greta. Well the life of living not in the wild allows Greta to lay ten eggs and they all hatch and thrive.
Mr Popper is a bumbling but caring and nice person. His attempts at handling the issues that arise with the penguins are funny and lovable. Mrs Popper just lets Mr Popper be his dream. The ending is sweet, the story is full of wit, charm and just as fun as I remember.

This year the story is 80 years old. It was named a Newbery Honor Book in 1939 and won the 1940 Young Reader's Choice Award. It was also one of the inaugural 1958 Lewis Carroll Shelf Award books. It is a shame it is not read by more!

[Christina DeVane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this to the boys, and it’s such a fun, silly story that brings back memories of my childhood! I think I love this book so much because I loved it as a kid. The ending is a little weird in that he leaves his family to go live with the penguins for awhile. 😂

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember loving this in third grade when the school librarian read it aloud to our class. Decided to try it on the seven year-old, who likes animal stories, and was curious to see if I'd still like it at this late date. Yes, but not as much. This time around, I thought it got off to a slow start, and it struck me that it would be odd today for the main (human) character in a children's book to be an adult, although the rumpled, absent-minded, polar-fanatic house-painter Mr. Popper is hardly a typical grown-up. His children, Janie and Bill are rather shadowy undeveloped characters in the background -- I don't think we're even told how old they are. I enjoyed how Mrs. Popper, a deeply practical and house-proud woman, takes the disruptions the penguins bring into the Poppers' lives with calm aplomb -- it would have been all too easy for the author to make her entirely cross and full of complaints about penguins living in the ice-box, playing in snowdrifts in the living room, etc. The penguins themselves are charming. In the story, rather too many random people on the street express complete ignorance of the existence of such birds ("What are those, puffins?"). Surely in 1938 penguins were just as much a staple of zoos and pop-culture as they are now -- but judging by this book, maybe not.

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

A review written in the 2nd grade and found in the basement:
This is a very good book of a man that got one penguin in a box. After that he got one more. Then the new penguin got babies. There were ten penguins after the babies came.
In the end of the book he goes to the south pole. If you want to know all the funny (sic) that happens to the Popper family, read the book. You can get it [in] our library.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

My eight year old son gave this five stars and said he loved it so much he wished we could start it over. ♥️ We read this as a read-aloud along with my five year old daughter.

[Kressel Housman · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son the nature-lover, who is not as avid a reader as his brothers, is a die-hard fan of this book. His enthusiasm began in school when his teacher read the book to his class, and before she could finish, he persuaded me to bring it home to read at bedtime. It's the charming and often funny story of an ordinary house painter who dreams of Antarctica. When he receives a penguin as a surprise gift, the adventures begin! The book was written in the 30's, but it really transcends time. A fun follow-up to "March of the Penguins!"

[R. L. Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was hilarious! I found an audio version and listened to it in two spurts today! I love it! The mom was obnoxious at the beginning but they fixed that before the end 😂 the book was so out of pocket and the end 🤣🤣🤣 it was hilarious!

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't keep reading because I kept thinking that the penguins could never survive in such a hot climate and Discovery Channel realism was intruding on the lighthearted nature of the story.

[Becca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Men will literally get a dozen penguins as pets before helping with housework. Mr. Popper is a menace, and no one knows that better than Mrs. Popper.

I read this as a kid, but barely remembered it and wanted something the exact opposite of Dracula. This was far more violent than I remembered, but also, separately, far more funny than I remembered. When he gets tangled in the leash? When the cops and firefighters pick sides? Comedy gold.

The audiobook is an absolute delight. The music, sound effects, and Nick Sullivan’s narration and different voices are all top notch. Weird patriotism notwithstanding, this is (for me) a cute nostalgic story about how pets and special interests make life worth living. And also money. People need money.

[Kimber · Rating 3 out of 5]

This inspired a much better film. What I liked the most was how well the beginning pages illustrates how the Law of Attraction works! Mr. Poppers is immersed in his desire (penguins and Antarctica). So he reads about it, thinks about it, dreams about it, watches films about it, listens to a radio show about it....until he manifests a penguin on his porch! This is the correct formula that Law of Attraction teaches and how perfect for children...He holds his desire from a place of happiness (very important) and he is not bothered at all by reactions from others that may trip him up (like his wife who is always worrying about money).

But the plot gets a little haywire as soon as the penguins become entertainers. So, Poppers gets into despair.( This wasn't really what he wanted.) Then he seems to get back on track while remembering his original desire: to transport the penguins from the South Pole to the North Pole.....But this was rather puzzling! I mean, why? I think this rather strange turn of events hurts the story. I mean he got his wish, but as a children's book it fails because children are learning science and they would naturally want to learn more about penguins and why they DON'T live at the North Pole and that would be rather depressing explaining to them that penguins have never known predators-- so lets introduce them to a place where there are other animals who would prey on them and see if they survive?

[R.F. Gammon · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are not many books that I can't wait to read out loud to my children, but this is one I cannot wait to read out loud to my children.

[Sunshine Rodgers · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first time reading a book written by Richard Atwater. I wanted to compare Mr. Popper's Penguins (the book) to its movie adaptation. The book review is below:

🐧 I love the illustrations by Robert Lawson!

🐧 The book was written in the 1930s and the story is so good... it's practically a modern-day read!

🐧 I love the penguin cartoons and the Roman numerals starting each chapter.

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Mr. Popper is a house painter with money problems. He is married with two children, and they live in Stillwater. * This man would one day be the most famous person in Stillwater. * Mr. Popper is fascinated with Polar explorations and the Arctics. He loves to read travel books and even listens to an Exploration broadcast on the radio. In fact, Mr. Popper wrote to Admiral Drake about his love of penguins and the Explorer replied by sending Mr. Popper a gift.

The present was shipped to him: a live penguin!
Since Mr. Popper already has such knowledge of the South Pole; he was able to bond with and take care of the penguin (even adding snow and ice inside his house!). First, it was Captain Cook. Then the second, Greta, arrived from the Mammoth City aquarium to keep Cook company. The other ten started as eggs. The penguin chicks are named: Nelson, Columbus, Louisa, Jenny, Scott, Magellan, Adelina, Isabella, Ferdinand & Victoria.

The Popper family train the penguins with Mrs. Popper playing the piano. He presents his animal act to Mr. Greenbaum who offers Mr. Popper a ten-week contract to travel throughout the country at $5,000/week. The Popper Performing Penguins become famous!

The penguins ride buses, get on taxis and trains, and stay in hotel rooms. The animal-celebrities even have a sponsor: Owens' Oceanic Shrimp.

Mr. Popper and his 12 penguins get thrown in jail for disturbing the peace and causing a riot at the Regal Theater. Admiral Drake bails him out and gives an offer to Mr. Popper: that the birds start a new race of penguins at the North Pole. Mr. Greenbaum gives another offer: to have the birds star in movies.

The last chapter "Farewell, Mr. Popper" is odd. Mr. Popper decides to send his penguins away with Admiral Drake to an exploration of the North Pole. Admiral Drake insists that Mr. Popper comes along, so he says good-bye to his wife and kids and leaves for a years-long adventure.

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🐧 I laughed out loud on so many parts! (animal mischief scenes!)

🐧 It was an ongoing joke. Other people calling the penguin...
"A giant parrot" (pg. 39)
"An anteater" (pg. 52)
"A South Pole goose" (pg. 52)
"A pelican" (pg. 54)
"ducks" (pg. 121)

🐧 Such a cute family-friendly story!

🐧 Is the Book "Mr. Popper's Penguins" better than the Movie version?
Find out on my Blog Series titled Book Vs Movie:
👉 https://www.sunshinerodgers.com/movie...

[Amanda M (On The Middle Shelf) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute story. Nothing super memorable and the pacing was a little weird, but still fun for the kids.

[Maggie Carr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ya know I read the whole book to my students so I’m counting it as a book that I’ve read.

[Nostalgia Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funnily, I have a feeling the exact things I was able to overlook now, would have been the things I would have been annoyed with had I read this as a kid. And besides, back then I would have probably thought someone with a polar exploration obsession was crazy.

But this book checks all the boxes for me now, right down to Mr. Popper's obsession. I absolutely geeked out when I saw that he named the penguins for explorers... and the main one Captain Cook, no less!!

Despite the Popper's ignorance of frugality, the misconception that penguins are "neat" and "clean" birds (erm... what about all that poop?), and the overall unlikelihood of it all--I FREAKING LOVED THIS.

(Cross posted on my blog.)