The Penguin Lessons: What I Learned from a Remarkable Bird
Tom Michell
2015, 219 pages
Nonfiction
In 1975 Englishman Tom Michell travels to take a job at a boy’s school in Argentina. During his trip he walks along a beach in Uruguay and is horrified to find hundreds of penguins who have died in an oil spill. There is one penguin still alive and looking at him fiercely. Michell captures the angry penguin in a string bag and takes it back to the posh apartment he is borrowing from absent friends. He proceeds to clean the penguin in the bathtub with butter and soap. The penguin, whom he names Juan Salvador (John Saved) eventually realizes that Michell is trying to help him, and he lets Michell care for him. Michell tries to return Juan Salvador to the beach, but the penguin refuses to go, and tries to cross a busy road to get back to Michell. Michell now has an interesting dilemma; he has to travel with a penguin.
Michell smuggles the penguin into Argentina. There Juan Salvador also becomes a friend to the maids and school boys. He even becomes the rugby mascot. Juan is a great listener. Michell writes “How was it that a penguin brought such comfort and tranquility to the people whose lives he touched?”
This is a charming book about the bond between a man and a rescued penguin, and their unusual and lasting friendship.
Robbin BaileyConcord Public Library
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