It is a book about a man named Mr. Popper who has a job as a house decorator and painter. He wrote a letter to Admiral Drake who was doing an exploration of the Antarctic. One day on the radio they were broadcasting from the Antarctic, and they said hello to Mr. Popper and to expect a surprise.
The next day a package arrived in the mail. It was the biggest package Mr. Popper ever saw. It said, "Keep Cool." and "Fragile." He opened it up and then a Penguin jumped out! Mr. Popper was surprised! He named the Penguin Captain Cook. He filled up the bathtub with cold water and gave him a bath.
The Penguin explored the house. The family decided the penguin's house would be the ice box. Mr. Popper called the refrigerator man to put holes in the refrigerator door. The fix it man thought Mr. Popper was crazy. He also had a handle put on the inside of the door. The penguin liked his new home but then he started to do some odd things. He got lots of things from around the house like string, and bouncy balls....he was trying to make a nest out of them! Instead the family made a nest for him out of ice cubes.
Then Captain Cook got very ill. They thought the man who owned a nearby aquarium would know how to help heal him. This man owned another penguin who was also very ill. They thought the penguins were sick because they were lonely. So Mr. Popper got another penguin from the aquarium man and named her Greta. The Popper family installed a freezer plant in the basement and a furnace upstairs. It was worth it to keep the penguins cold and the family warm. Now they had almost no money left, so the freezer man let them do it all on credit.
The penguins lived in the basement. A few days later laid they laid an egg! Then another, and another, till there were 10 eggs in all! There wasn't enough room under Greta for all 10 eggs so they kept them warm with hot water bottles and electric blankets. The freezer plant didn't make small ice cubes, but big hunks of ice, so there was an ice castle in the basement for the penguins to slide on. The eggs all hatched, making cute fuzzy baby penguins. The family bought live fish to feed them all, but they were very expensive and had to be individually shipped.
Mrs. Popper began worrying about food and money. Mr. Popper then had an idea of training the penguins and turning them into a show! First they trained them to march like a parade, then he trained them to pretend fight. They called up the manager of a big theater, Mr. Greenbottom, to see the penguins. He let the penguins rehearse at his place. The Poppers traveled by bus, but the passengers complained, and so the Poppers and the penguins all had to get off and walk the rest of the way.
The Popper's act was a success! Soon they were performing all across America and they were famous. The family slept at fancy hotels, but the fish for the penguins were too expensive. So they began feeding them Owen's Organic Shrimp. Mr. Popper had a new idea, he wrote "Mr.Popper's Penguins Thrive on Owen's Organic Shrimp", and the company owner loved the advertisement so much that he gave them coupons for free shrimp anytime, anywhere. There was also a spinach and oats company, who wanted Mr. Popper to say his penguins thrived on eating their products, but Mr. Popper refused because he was honest and he knew his penguins would never eat spinach or oats. He did this even though the large sum of money they offered would be very useful.
One day the Popper's Penguins went to the wrong theater and ruined their current show. The theater Manager was angry and they all got sent to jail. Then Admiral Drake came and freed them from jail. He was so surprised to find out Mr. Popper now had 12 penguins! Admiral Drake wanted to set up a colony of penguins up in the north arctic. But Mr. Greenbottom wanted to put the Penguins in the movies. They gave Mr. Popper a day to make a decision. Mr. Popper decided the penguins should get to move north with Admiral Drake. Mr. Popper and the children were invited to come to, and they did.
I loved this book because it is about Penguins, and it's really funny and a very good book. I hope you will like to read it too.
Here is a picture of the author, Einstein, with a favorite activity: a book!THE END.
