A true story of a man who rescues a penguin washed up on a beach in Uruguay drenched in oil amongst hundreds of other penguins who, unfortunately, haven’t been as lucky.
Tom decides to bring the penguin, with some flapping along the way, back to his hotel room to wash the oil off his feathers before returning him to the ocean close to where he was found. Well, he tries – the penguin refuses to leave his side. As a result, Tom smuggles Juan Salvador (the penguin’s new name) across the Argentinian border to his place of residence and work – a boarding school – where Juan becomes the Rugby team’s mascot, party host, swimming coach and everyone’s friend.
Not only was this book a joy to read, it also contained some great geographical elements along the way from the impact of oil spills on marine ecosystems (pg 8-12) and the anatomy of a penguin (pg 14-15 & 20) to informal jobs in South America (pg 49-50) and the effects of inflation on a nation’s economy (pg 65-68).
The relationship Tom shares with this penguin is like no other. I won’t spoil it for anyone, but the ending was not what I expected…
Recommended age range; KS3+
Mrs Geography 