Plot: Mr. Popper is a house painter who regrets not ever traveling, especially to the North and South Poles. He idolizes an explorer named Admiral Drake, whom he had written to. While listening to a broadcast from the Antarctic, Admiral Drake mentions Mr. Popper from Stillwater and says to expect a surprise. Soon a box arrives and inside is a penguin! Mr. Popper names him Captain Cook after another explorer. To keep Captain Cook cool, Mr. Popper keeps him in the fridge and has holes drilled for ventilation and a handle installed on the inside so Captain Cook can come in and out whenever he wants. Mrs. Popper makes sure to buy shrimp for him to eat, though sea food gets expensive and they don't have much money. As it is, the family will have to live off of beans till Spring. Captain Cook gets ill, and Mr. popper writes to a curator of an aquarium wwho writes back that it might be loneliness, so he sends a female penguin named Greta to Mr. Popper. Captain Cook and Greta get along fine and have 10 baby penguins. Now Mr. Popper has 12 penguins, and to deal with the cost he and Mrs. Popper decide to create an act with the penguins because they are so funny and cute and they'll call them Popper's Performing Penguins.
Genre: Humor
Suggested reading level: Grades 4-6
Subjects/themes: penguins, explorations, follow your dreams, daydreaming, humor.
Awards:
- Newbery Honor 1939
- Young Reader's Choice Award 1941
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