The Penguin Lessons by Tom Michell will feature on the Radio 2 Fact not Fiction Book Club on Friday 11 December.
The book was selected with the help of a panel made up of Reading Agency and library staff from across the UK. Find out more about the non-fiction strand of the Radio 2 Book Club.
You can win 10 copies of The Penguin Lessons for your reading group – just visit our Noticeboard.
We have an exclusive extract available for you to read as well as some discussion questions for your reading group.
You can even listen to an extract from the audiobook read by Bill Nighy!
The Penguin Lessons
When schoolteacher Tom Michell pulls a penguin from an oil slick off the coast of Uruguay he has no idea what to do.
Back at his apartment, and following a battle of wills, Tom manages to clean the oil off the penguin. But upon returning to the beach the penguin refuses to jump into the ocean, instead following Tom back up the beach and staring meaningfully into his eyes. Tom has one option: to smuggle the penguin over the Argentinian border to the prestigious boarding school he calls home.
There follows a heart-warming story of one remarkable penguin, who quickly adapts to boarding school life. Whether it’s as team mascot, confidante or swimming coach extraordinaire – Juan Salvador the penguin brings joy and enchantment to the lives of all he meets during some of the darkest and most dangerous days in Argentina’s history.
Selection panel review
Our reading panel from libraries and The Reading Agency loved The Penguin Lessons – here are some of their comments:
“In the 1970s , a young English teacher, on leave in Uruguay from his school in Argentina, finds a barely alive penguin, victim of an oil spill on the beach. He rescues him, cleans him up and smuggles him back to school where he becomes a mix of mascot and inspiration for the staff and pupils. Juan Salvador, as the penguin is named, is a real character who has the reader rooting for his survival from the beginning. As well as learning about penguins, we learn about political upheavals, customs, food and the geography of the country. I loved it and I think it will engage readers of all ages!”
“The account is intriguing and heart-warming but unsentimental. Central to the narrative is the personality of the penguin and his relationship with the many humans with whom he comes into contact and influences in unexpected ways. It is set against the background of the upheavals of the Peronist era in Argentina in a pre-technological age when an international phone call had to be booked, an international flight cost a year’s salary and a trip alone out into the countryside really meant being alone. It also shows us the warmth and humanity of the Argentinian people for whom life was hard and full of dangers.”
“This brilliantly intuitive teacher movingly describes with love and compassion not only the life of the school and individual pupils and staff (and how they interact with the rescued penguin), but also describes the author’s own journey in understanding Argentina pre and post Peron. Although the boarding school caters for the well-off he also spends time with some of those most marginalised people in the country. The book is biographical but with a major difference given that it thrillingly describes his journey with the rescued penguin.”
About the author
Tom Michell was born and grew up on the rural downs of southern England, where he grew to love animals, birds and plants. After living in Argentina he returned home and settled in Cornwall where he helps with the family business, tends a small plot of what he calls ‘good Cornish soil’ and sings with a local choir. He is an amateur artist and in his spare time he draws and paints subjects from the wildlife around his home, specialising in birds of prey. Tom is an enthusiastic proponent of understanding how humans can live in genuinely sustainable ways. He is married with four grown-up children and three grandchildren.
A word from Tom
“I feel privileged and astonished, in equal measure, that the story of Juan Salvador the penguin has been chosen for the Radio 2 Book Club and that the Reading Groups for Everyone promotion in public libraries is a wonderful idea.”
Get involved
Tune in to the Radio 2 Arts Show on Friday 11 December to hear an interview with Tom Michell talking about his book.
Win 10 copies of The Penguin Lessons for your reading group! Just visit our Noticeboard.
Have you read The Penguin Lessons? You can share your thoughts with us on Twitter, using #PenguinLessons.
You can also post a review or add the book to your reading list.
Want to find out more? Take a look at the Radio 2 Book Club Twitter feed or find out more on the Radio 2 Book Club website.
