The Penguin Lessons

Product Information

There, the penguin, now named Juan Salvador - after the Spanish version of Jonathan Livingston Seagull - wins the heart of everyone it meets, watching rugby matches from the sideline, swimming in the school pool, doted on by pupils and teachers alike. A particularly moving part of the book comes near the end when Mitchell relays in beautiful detail about the way Juan Salvado helped transform a student who was struggling and an outcast at the college. It brought a tear to my eye. In my professional life I work with an organization that brings nature and animal therapy programs to vulnerable populations, including children and teens who have experienced trauma and suffer from PTSD. There is something incredibly profound about the human-animal bond, and for so many people the connection with an animal is their first step toward healing and transformation. Tengo que resaltar que me ha gustado mucho la forma de escribir del autor y como te cuenta su historia, es muy cercana, alegre y a su vez contiene muchos detalles. También tiene momentos divertidos y otros no tan divertidos pero es la pura realidad, nos gusten o no. When I saw the cover of “The Penguin Lessons,” I simply couldn’t resist reading it, and I’m glad I didn’t or I would have missed out on a great story. The Penguin Lessons is a unique and moving true story which has captured imaginations around the globe - for all those who dreamed as a child they might one day talk to the animals. Read more Details

The narrator for the story is the author, Tom Michell, and this is part recount, part story, part travelogue and entirely entrancing. It is a brilliant, fun read, as the author shares his experiences and imagined conversations with Juan Salvado( r ). I’ll let you imagine some of the amazing, often hilarious, antics as a little penguin joins a boarding school then suggest that you go read the book yourself to find out just what happens. Perhaps an English boarding school (or one in South America) mirrors life in a penguin rookery more than most other forms of human society,” Michell writes, pondering on how it was that “a penguin brought such comfort and tranquillity to the people whose lives he touched”.The humour doesn’t always quite pay off, and the author has a bit of a tendency to overegg a narrative that really doesn’t need it. “Goodbye, little bird ... Henceforth, may your path be untrammelled and untroubled.” But it’s clear that this is a much-beloved tale about a much-beloved bird - Michell admits that Juan Salvador has been the subject of “countless Michell family bedtime stories” - and it is, for the most part, heartwarmingly eccentric. Given the popularity of Monty the penguin and the ever-present appetite of British readers for animal books, it’s bound to be a hit. Os recomiendo mucho esta historia a todos los que os gusten los animales. Y para los que temáis por pasarlo mal... Os prometo que no es una historia muy triste, puede que se os escape una lagrimita en algún momento, pero sin llegar a sufrir mucho. Os lo prometo. Look! I'm soaking wet thanks to you!' I said to the penguin who was now standing beside me, looking me up and down.

Michell’s travels include a quest to find a new home for Juan Salvado, and readers are sure to enjoy the travelogue as well as the story of the penguin himself (Michell’s description of the noses of elephant seal bulls on Peninsula Valdés is one of the best I’ve read: “having a pendulous protuberance like a large crumpled boot where they could reasonably expect to have a nose”). Witty and heartwarming, The Penguin Lessons is a classic in the making, a story that is both absurd and wonderful, exactly like Juan Salvador. A perk of Michell's job is that he had much time to travel throughout South America. On one journey he explored Punta del Este, Uruguay and found a beach full of penguins destroyed by an oil spill. Only one penguin miraculously survived, and Michell decided to adopt him and so named the bird Juan Salvado (saved). In his 20s Michell desired to see the world. I suspect many people do as a means of finding oneself. He decided to apply for a position as a house counselor at a boarding school in Argentina on the other side of the world from his rural English home. In parts personal memoir, travelogue, political and social history, the book moves with ease from pointed discussion of humanity's attitude towards wildlife, to the antics of schoolboys who suddenly find they are sharing their school with a penguin. In doing so, Michell puts forward a picture of the best and worst people can do.

Success!

Marley & Me with a penguin. Well, sort of. I don’t know about you, but I’m a bit peeved at how this has been roped in for Christmas advertising on Goodreads. It would indeed make a good holiday gift for an animal-lover, but this emphasizes the twee aspects of what is otherwise a sweet if slight story about the author keeping a Magellanic penguin as a pet while he was teaching in an Argentina boarding school in the 1970s. The author is a really good writer and his descriptions on being out on a farm the size of a country, with the gauchos, the cowboys, living their life, is revelatory. Who would think that in the 1970s in a first world country that people would wander looking for pasture daily, carrying everything on their saddle and sleeping around a campfire under the stars at night?

In the midst of this poverty, uncertainty, and political strife, Juan Salvado wins over staff, students, and employees alike as he lives on the outdoor terrace of Michell’s campus housing. Students vie for the privilege of buying him food from the local fishmonger and taking part in his care. Many simply enjoy spending time talking to Juan Salvado. “Juan Salvado was such a good listener, patiently absorbing everything that was said to him, from observations about the weather to secrets of the heart, and he never once interrupted. He looked people straight in the eye and always paid such close attention to what was said that his guests were inclined to talk to him on equal terms—they thought him a wise old bird.” So touching that I didn't want it to end. I really loved this book' Michael Bond, creator of Paddington

Retailers:

A unique and moving real-life story of the extraordinary bond between a young teacher and a penguin, this book will delight readers who loved Marley & Me, Dewey the Library Cat, The Good Good Pig, and any book by Jon Katz. This is such a gem of a book!! When i read the blurb and saw the cover I knew it was for me and it has been an absolutely delightful read! One day, I believe, we will be able to confirm that many animals have the capacity to understand and process information and experience emotions to a far more sophisticated degree than opinion currently holds."