365 Penguins

A family are somewhat bemused when they receive a gift of a penguin on January 1st. Then another one arrives the next day, and another on the third. So it goes, as a new penguin arrives every day for a year. Needless to say, this involves the family in all sorts of problems - how does one care for so many penguins?! - but it also presents some opportunities for fun mathematical problems. In the end, the mystery of who is sending these avian guests is resolved...

Originally published in Frances as 365 Pingouins, this oversized picture-book is the second title I have read from author/artist team Jean-Luc Fromental and Joëlle Jolivet, following upon their Bonesville. As I finished it, I couldn't help feeling that I was meant to find it far show more more amusing then I did, especially given how entertaining I found their other book. That said, it was engaging enough, and I can certainly see how others would really enjoy it, given its mixture of oddball family adventure story, mathematical education, and appealing artwork. I'm not sure why it didn't quite work for me - perhaps I just wasn't in the right frame of mind? Whatever the case may be, although I didn't love 365 Penguins, I would still recommend it, especially to fans of this author and illustrator. show less

This picture book is the story of one family who is gifted a new penguin each day and must figure out where to put each penguin. This book highlights the practical use of mathematics while telling it in an engaging and funny way. This book is great for the child that asks when they will ever use math in the real world.

365 PENGUINS is an entertaining story about a house that is being filled up by penguins. Each day, more and more penguins pile up. The family spends time counting using various math strategies and sorting the penguins throughout the story. At the end of the year the family has collected 365 penguins and a visitor arrives to bring them home. The book ends with a science lesson about global warming. The illustrations are simple and unremarkable, in my opinion. However, I imagine it would be very difficult to draw 365 penguins with great detail :) Good book for both a science and math lesson!

Absolutely charmed my socks off. Some math, some science, retro art, and a whole lot of humor.

I enjoyed the copy that is archived on openlibrary.org, but 'ware the scanning glitch that adds a second copy of a spread prematurely.

I do recommend this if you need a smile, and I will look for more by the author.

This book was absolutely adorable, and terribly engaging. The child I was reading this with could not stop talking about it, and wanted to got through it a second time. It is a great book for math; it introduces multiplication in a visual and realistic way. You don't even have to talk to the students about multiplication, but just mention it as grouping. The book has questions that are provocations for multiplication. An added bonus is that it addresses science issues that our world faces: climate change.

Not only is this book cute and well illustrated, but it contains multiple math lessons. I think it would be excellent to read and interact with students using it, encouraging them to do the math equations amongst each other.

What a fun way to explore math concepts. A family receives a penguin every day for a year and the book explores math concepts like adding and multiplication through feeding them and finding ways to house them. Also pretty funny.