I truly adored the first part of this book and I thought it was going to be a five-star read, but the second half was much worse and I didn't like the ending. I wish I had read this book as a child. ( )

Mr. Popper, an unassuming, gentle man, paints houses for a living. His hobbies are reading books and watching documentaries about the North and South Poles. When Popper sends a letter to the famous Antarctic explorer, Admiral Drake, the admiral answers his letter by sending him a surprise- a male Adelie penguin. Mr. Popper names him Captain Cook and builds him a nest in the icebox. When the penguin falls sick from lack of companionship, Mr. Popper gets a female penguin from a zoo. Then, the Poppers transform their basement into a miniature South Pole, and, soon, Greta lays ten eggs. With all the new mouths to feed and extra expenses incurred to keep the penguins cold, the Poppers are soon out of money and in debt. The Poppers and the neighbors love watching the penguins’ antics so Mr. Popper decides to audition them as a theater act. They are a success, and the Poppers go on a ten-week tour of the United States. Wrong directions and penguin antics almost ruin everything.
©2024 Kathy Maxwell at https://bookskidslike.com ( )

The unexpected delivery of a large crate containing an Antarctic penguin changes the life and fortunes of Mr. Popper, a house painter obsessed by dreams of the Polar regions.

I remember my mom reading this aloud to me and my siblings, and that we all really liked it. I'd forgotten pretty much everything, though, and decided to read it to my nieces (ages 7, 9, 10). They all loved it and gave it 5 stars. I have to, also!

This is a really sweet story about a man who is sent penguins, and all the fun silliness that unfolds with him, his family, and his new pets.

"Janie and Bill would often bring their little friends home from school with them, and they would all go down and watch the penguins for hours.
"At night, instead of sitting and reading and smoking his pipe in the living room, as he had done before, Mr. Popper would put on his overcoat and take his things downstairs. There he would sit and read, with his mittens on, looking up from time to time to see what his pets were doing. He often thought.... how different his life had been before the penguins had come to keep him occupied.... He dreaded to think of the time when.... he would have to leave them all day..." pp 79-80 ( )

Lawrence, Robert ( )