Mr. Popper's Penguins

Summary

Mr. Popper's Penguins is a comic novel in twenty short chapters about a house painter in the small town of Stillwater who dreams of the polar regions. Mr. Popper is a gentle, rather untidy man with a patient wife and two children, Bill and Janie. Every autumn, when the painting work runs out, he settles down to a winter of reading about explorers, and he especially admires Admiral Drake, then leading an expedition to the Antarctic. He has written the admiral a letter of praise. One evening the Poppers tune their radio to a broadcast from the expedition, and Admiral Drake speaks directly to Mr. Popper, promising him a surprise. The surprise arrives by express in a large crate: a live penguin. Mr. Popper names him Captain Cook, after the explorer, and the bird settles into the family's icebox, waddles through the house examining everything, and collects odd objects as if for a nest. Life with a penguin in a small town brings comic trouble with neighbors, repairmen and the police. After a while Captain Cook grows sluggish and seems to be failing. Mr. Popper writes to the curator of a large aquarium, who replies that he has a female penguin with the same symptoms and suggests that both birds are lonely. The aquarium sends her to Stillwater, the Poppers name her Greta, and both birds revive at once. To keep the pair comfortable Mr. Popper opens the windows to the winter air and then has a freezing plant installed in the basement, turning it into a snowy, icy home. Greta lays ten eggs, and soon the Poppers have twelve penguins and a large unpaid bill. To save the family's finances, Mr. Popper trains the birds into a stage act, with drills, marches and comic routines. Popper's Performing Penguins make a hit at the local theater, and a theater owner, Mr. Greenbaum, sends them on a tour of theaters across the country. In New York City the penguins blunder into the wrong theater and cause chaos, and its angry manager has Mr. Popper and the birds arrested. Admiral Drake, just back and eager to see the famous act, pays the bail. He wants the penguins to start a colony at the North Pole, where there are none. A Hollywood offer to put the birds in films would make the family rich, but Mr. Popper decides that show business is no life for penguins and gives them to the admiral. As he mourns his loss, Drake invites him to come along as well, and Mr. Popper sails north with his penguins, promising Mrs. Popper to be home in a year or two. Little, Brown published the book in 1938 with illustrations by Robert Lawson, and it was named a Newbery Honor Book in 1939.

Plot or Argument

• Chapters 1-2: Stillwater and The Voice in the Air

  Mr. Popper, a house painter, ends his working season and begins a winter of polar reading; Admiral Drake speaks to him by radio from the Antarctic and promises a surprise.

• Chapters 3-4: Out of the Antarctic and Captain Cook

  A penguin arrives in a crate, is named Captain Cook, and is given a home in the family icebox.

• A penguin in town

  Captain Cook explores the house and goes out into Stillwater, causing a series of comic scrapes with the household, the neighbors and the authorities.

• Greta and the ten chicks

  Captain Cook falls ill from loneliness; an aquarium curator sends the female Greta; the basement is turned into a frozen penguin home, and ten eggs hatch into a family of twelve birds.

• Popper's Performing Penguins

  With money running short, the Poppers train the birds into a stage act that succeeds locally and then tours the country's theaters.

• New York and the North Pole

  The act strays into the wrong theater in New York and Mr. Popper is arrested; Admiral Drake bails him out, a film offer is refused, and Mr. Popper sails north with the admiral and the penguins.

Characters

• Mr. Popper, protagonist

  Dreamy, kindly house painter of Stillwater who longs to see the polar regions.

• Mrs. Popper, his wife

  Practical, patient housekeeper who worries about the bills but helps with the penguins.

• Bill and Janie Popper, the Popper children

  Delighted helpers in the care and training of the birds.

• Captain Cook, the first penguin

  Curious, dignified penguin sent by Admiral Drake from the Antarctic.

• Greta, the second penguin

  Female penguin from an aquarium who becomes Captain Cook's mate and mother of ten.

• Admiral Drake, polar explorer

  Leader of the Antarctic expedition who sends the first penguin and later takes the flock north.

• Mr. Greenbaum, theater owner

  Showman who books Popper's Performing Penguins on a national tour.

Lessons

• A dreamer who does his duty

  Mr. Popper is a daydreamer who reads about the poles, but when a real penguin arrives he takes the work of caring for it seriously, from the icebox to the freezing plant. The book shows that loving a dream well means doing the ordinary chores it brings.

  • What does Mr. Popper do during the winters before Captain Cook arrives?
  • What changes Mr. Popper has to make in his house to keep the penguins well?
  • Is Mr. Popper a good caretaker? How do you know?

• No one should be alone

  Captain Cook starts to fail, and the aquarium curator guesses that the trouble is loneliness. When Greta comes, both birds get well, which shows in a funny way that creatures are made for company.

  • Why do Captain Cook and Greta both get better when they are together?
  • Have you ever felt better just because a friend came?

• What is best for the penguins

  At the end Mr. Popper could become rich from a movie offer, but he decides that theaters and cities are no place for penguins and lets them go to the North Pole. He chooses their good over his own profit, though it means saying goodbye.

  • Why does Mr. Popper say no to the movie offer?
  • How does Mr. Popper feel when he gives the penguins to Admiral Drake?
  • Was it a hard choice? Would you have made the same one?

Context

The book belongs to the years of the Great Depression and the great age of polar exploration by radio and newsreel. Richard E. Byrd's Antarctic expeditions of 1928-1930 and 1933-1935 were followed eagerly in American homes, and Admiral Drake's broadcast to the Popper living room reflects that excitement. The Poppers' worry about bills and Mr. Popper's seasonal work as a painter reflect the thin family budgets of the 1930s.

Composition

Richard Atwater began the story after taking his family to see a documentary film of Byrd's Antarctic expedition, and finished a draft before a stroke in 1934 left him unable to speak or write. Florence Atwater, after the first version was rejected by publishers, revised it, and Little, Brown published it in 1938 with drawings by Robert Lawson.

Reception

The book was named a Newbery Honor Book in 1939 and has remained in print ever since, a favorite for reading aloud in the early grades. A 2011 film starring Jim Carrey used the title and penguins but told a largely different story, and a sequel by another author appeared in 2020.

Comparisons

• charlottes-web

  Both American animal stories center on a family farm or household that takes in an unusual animal and on a final choice made for the animal's good rather than for profit or fame.

• the-cricket-in-times-square

  Chester the cricket, like the Popper penguins, becomes a sensation as a performer in New York, and both books end with the animal going back to the open country where it belongs.

• homer-price

  Robert McCloskey's comic tales of a small Ohio town share the same 1930s-1940s American setting of radios, gadgets and tall-tale escalation.

• the-voyage-of-the-beagle

  Darwin's real voyage shows the scientific world of exploration and animal observation that Mr. Popper reads about in his armchair and finally joins.

• the-wind-in-the-willows

  Toad and Mr. Popper are both enthusiasts carried away by a passion, but Mr. Popper's love for his penguins ends in a sacrifice rather than in a scolding from friends.

Quotes

For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

• Mr. Popper's winter of reading at the beginning, and how the arrival of the crate changes everything.
• Each new place the penguins live: the icebox, the snowy rooms with open windows, and the frozen basement.
• How the Popper family pays, or fails to pay, for twelve penguins, and how the stage act begins.
• The scene in New York at the wrong theater, and who comes to rescue Mr. Popper.

Key terms and names

Stillwater

The small, quiet town where the Poppers live, a funny place for a penguin to arrive.

Admiral Drake

The polar explorer who sends Mr. Popper a penguin after receiving his letter.

Antarctic

The cold region around the South Pole, where wild penguins live and where Admiral Drake's expedition is working.

Curator

The person in charge of a museum's or aquarium's collection, who sends Greta to the Poppers.

Popper's Performing Penguins

The stage show the family invents to earn money for the twelve birds.

Seminar Questions

1. Comprehension What surprise does Admiral Drake send to Mr. Popper, and where does it sleep at first?
2. Comprehension Why does Captain Cook get sick, and what makes him well again?
3. Comprehension Why do the Poppers decide to put the penguins on the stage?
4. Interpretation Mrs. Popper worries about money while Mr. Popper thinks about penguins. Which one do you think is more helpful to the family, and why?
5. Interpretation The penguins are very funny on stage, but they also get Mr. Popper into trouble in New York. Is the theater a good home for penguins?
6. Interpretation At the end Mr. Popper is sad to give the penguins away and then very happy. What changes his feelings?
7. Big Question If you were given a wild animal as a gift, how would you decide what was best for it?

Faith Connections

• Genesis 2:18-20 (Scripture)

  God says it is not good for the man to be alone and brings the animals to Adam to be named. Mr. Popper names his penguins after explorers, and Captain Cook, like Adam, is not well until a companion comes.

• Proverbs 12:10 (Scripture)

  A righteous man regards the life of his animal. Mr. Popper rearranges his whole house to keep his penguins cold and healthy, and at the end gives them up so they can live where they belong.

• Psalm 104:24-25 (Scripture)

  The psalm praises God for the great sea full of creatures. Penguins, made for icy seas, look comic in a Stillwater living room, and the book's ending sends them back to the cold waters they were made for.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: Mr. Popper loves the poles and their animals. When a penguin comes to live with him, he learns that loving an animal means giving it what it needs: cold, company and food. The penguins earn money on stage, but cities and theaters are not good for them. So the right thing is to let them go north, even though it costs Mr. Popper his fortune, and in the end his unselfish choice opens the way to his own dream of exploring.

Rhetorical device: comic escalation. The book builds from one penguin in an icebox to two penguins in snowy rooms, to twelve in a frozen basement, to a touring stage act, each step making the next more absurd while the household goes on as if all were normal.

Debate: Resolved: Mr. Popper was right to give the penguins to Admiral Drake instead of taking the movie offer.

Writing Prompts

Essay: Tell how Mr. Popper takes care of the penguins from the day Captain Cook arrives to the day they sail north, and explain what makes him a good caretaker.

Comparison with Charlotte's Web: Fern saves Wilbur, and Mr. Popper saves his penguins. Compare how each person cares for an animal and what each one has to give up.

Medical Lens

The one clinical thread is Captain Cook's decline: the penguin grows listless and his health seems to fail, and the aquarium curator, consulted by letter, judges that his only illness is loneliness, since a female bird in his own care shows the same signs. Her arrival revives both birds. The episode is a children's comedy, not a study of depression, but it offers a gentle, memorable picture of isolation as a cause of failing health and of company as its cure. Mr. Popper's careful arrangements to keep the birds cold and fed are a light-hearted portrait of conscientious caregiving.

• Middle chapters (Captain Cook's illness and Greta's arrival)

  Captain Cook declines, the aquarium curator suggests loneliness, and the penguins recover once Greta comes.

  Melancholia Depression Nursing Caregiving

Creative Prompts

• Fiction

  Write a letter from Mr. Popper at the North Pole to Bill and Janie, telling them how the penguins are getting along in the Arctic.

• Classroom

  List every change the Poppers make to their house for the penguins, from the icebox to the basement, and draw a cutaway picture of the house after all the changes.

• Dialogue

  Act out the radio broadcast in which Admiral Drake speaks to Mr. Popper from the Antarctic, and the family's reaction in the living room.

• Essay

  Mr. Popper turns down a movie offer that would make him rich. Write a paragraph explaining his reasons and whether you agree.

Further Reading

• Ben and Me, Robert Lawson

  A comic animal story by the illustrator of Mr. Popper's Penguins.

• Rabbit Hill, Robert Lawson

  Lawson's Newbery Medal animal story.

• Little America, Richard E. Byrd

  Byrd's account of the Antarctic expedition that inspired the book.