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A review by lisavegan
The Penguin Lessons by Tom Michell
4.0
January 2021 book club book for 15th anniversary meeting of my real world (via video since March 2020) book club. It’s a good book for book club.
It’s beautifully written, entertaining, charming, humorous at times, and a great armchair travel book.
It’s lighter than most of my book club books but it’s not fluff. It is an engaging story and a lovely meditation on friendships, relationships in general, mentoring, nature, how humans impact the ecosystem, and on adventure and seeking out & experiencing the new.
I’ve always been fond of penguins, especially since I saw the movie March of the Penguins in a movie theater. Here it was fun to get to know a penguin who did experience human intervention and to see a real relationship develop.
I rooted for the penguin and for Diego and for the author, and for others too.
I enjoyed the mix of information about the areas/nature, the author, the people he encountered, and especially the penguin. I appreciated the scientific information that is included, especially that added toward the end of the book that helps explain exactly why the penguin behaved as it did.
The penguin illustrations by the author were pleasing and added to the narrative. I do wish that there had been photos and I wonder if the bit more than two minutes of video footage can be found anywhere is I’d love to view it.
It’s a delightful book I can heartily recommend to readers who might enjoy reading about penguin and humans relationship, has interest in South America its history and/or it’s present, interest in wildlife especially penguins, interest in an unconventional school story, culture exchange, really most readers. Even people who are not normally non-fiction readers might enjoy it as it’s great storytelling.
4-1/2 stars
It’s beautifully written, entertaining, charming, humorous at times, and a great armchair travel book.
It’s lighter than most of my book club books but it’s not fluff. It is an engaging story and a lovely meditation on friendships, relationships in general, mentoring, nature, how humans impact the ecosystem, and on adventure and seeking out & experiencing the new.
I’ve always been fond of penguins, especially since I saw the movie March of the Penguins in a movie theater. Here it was fun to get to know a penguin who did experience human intervention and to see a real relationship develop.
I rooted for the penguin and for Diego and for the author, and for others too.
I enjoyed the mix of information about the areas/nature, the author, the people he encountered, and especially the penguin. I appreciated the scientific information that is included, especially that added toward the end of the book that helps explain exactly why the penguin behaved as it did.
The penguin illustrations by the author were pleasing and added to the narrative. I do wish that there had been photos and I wonder if the bit more than two minutes of video footage can be found anywhere is I’d love to view it.
It’s a delightful book I can heartily recommend to readers who might enjoy reading about penguin and humans relationship, has interest in South America its history and/or it’s present, interest in wildlife especially penguins, interest in an unconventional school story, culture exchange, really most readers. Even people who are not normally non-fiction readers might enjoy it as it’s great storytelling.
4-1/2 stars