Mr. Popper's Penguins

Mr. Popper, a dreamy house painter in small-town Stillwater who spends his evenings reading about polar expeditions, once wrote a fan letter to the famous Admiral Drake — and years later, Drake makes good on a promised surprise by shipping him a live penguin. Mr. Popper names him Captain Cook, and when the bird starts to sicken from loneliness, an aquarium curator sends a companion, Greta, who promptly lays egg after egg until the Poppers have twelve penguins living in their house.

Broke and needing to feed a dozen penguins, Mr. Popper trains them into a traveling stage act, and "Popper's Performing Penguins" becomes a sensation — until a mix-up lands the troupe at the wrong theater and Mr. Popper under arrest. Admiral Drake bails him out and, convinced show business is no place for a penguin, invites the whole flock — and Mr. Popper — along on his next Arctic expedition. A Newbery Honor classic of gentle, whimsical children's fiction.