Mr. Popper’s Penguins

• Genre: Fiction; children’s literature; adventure; humor
• Originally Published: 1938
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 910L; grades 3-6
• Structure/Length: 20 chapters; approximately 160 pages; approximately 3 hours, 35 minutes on audio
• Protagonist/Central Conflict: Mr. Popper, a house painter with a passion for polar exploration, unexpectedly receives a penguin from the South Pole. As the number of penguins in his house grows amidst hilarious mayhem, Mr. Popper must figure out how to care for his penguin family.

Richard and Florence Atwater, Authors

• Bio: Richard Atwater, born 1892, died 1948; Florence Atwater, born 1896, died 1979; husband-and-wife American authors. Richard was a journalist, poet, and teacher; Florence was a teacher and writer; Richard started the book, and after his stroke, Florence completed it.
• Awards: Newbery Honor (1939); Young Reader’s Choice Award (1940); Lewis Carroll Shelf Award (1958)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• The Primacy of Family Relationships
• Mankind and the Natural World
• The Virtues of Humility and Perseverance
• Practical Concerns Versus Otherworldly Concepts

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Develop an understanding of the biological and geographical contexts of the novel that incite Mr. Popper’s conflict.
• Analyze paired texts and other brief resources to make connections via the text’s themes of The Primacy of Family Relationships, Mankind and the Natural World, and The Virtues of Humility and Perseverance.