12 Books for Penguin Lovers

To celebrate Penguin Awarenesses Day, this is a guest post from my favourite penguin super-fan, Neil.

In this house, we are very aware of penguins.

It’s hard not to be when Isla’s preferred way of waking us up in the morning is plonking her big blue cuddly penguin, Victoria, on our heads.

I’ve been a fan of penguins all my life, growing up in near Edinburgh Zoo, our family were regular visitors to the penguin enclosure, a tradition I’ve kept up, dragging Lorna and Isla to visit the penguins (and all the other animals at the Zoo as well, of course) as much as I can.

So, to celebrate Penguin Awareness Day, Lorna’s asked me to share my favourite penguin books (not to be confused with Penguin Books) with her groovy readers (that’s you!).

Note from Lorna: This book list contains Amazon affiliate links, I make a small commission if you make a US or UK purchase through them, at no extra cost to you. Read my disclosure here.)

Death And The Penguin, by Andrey Kurkov. This is my very favourite book in the world, the funny and touching story of Viktor and Penguin Misha set against the backdrop of post-cold-war Ukraine. If after reading this, you don’t want a penguin swimming in your bathtub, I don’t know what’s wrong with you.

Life in the Freezer, and Frozen Planet; by Alastair Fothergill. The companion books for the Life in the Freezer – the blueprint for the myriad penguin documentaries that I make Lorna watch, and the later reboot Frozen Planet

The Great Penguin Rescue, by Dyan deNapoli (AKA The Penguin Lady) The story of how an oil-spill in South Africa initiated the world’s largest animal rescue, saving tens of the thousands of penguins.

365 Penguins, by Jean-Luc Fromental and Joëlle Jolivet. A beautiful work of art, I love this book!

Penguin, by Stephen Martin. Part of the ‘Animal Series’ of books, each dealing with a different animal. This isn’t a wildlife book, but more about the cultural significance of penguins, covering everything from the first sightings by explorers through to the likes of Mr Popper’s Penguins, and Tux the Linux penguin.

Empire Antarctica: Ice, Silence & Emperor Penguins, by Gavin Francis. An Edinburgh local – while not entirely about penguins, this is the Francis’ story of going to work as a doctor in Antarctica, inspired by a love of penguins. The writing is very poetic.

The Penguin Lessons, by Tom Michell. The sort of book you can read in one sitting, the heart-warming tale of a young teacher in South America rescuing a Magellan penguin and nursing it back to health at his school.

Among Penguins: A Bird Man in Antarctica, by Noah Strycker. I have this, but haven’t actually read it yet – the title, and across-the-board 5-star reviews on Amazon would suggest it’s an essential book for penguin-lovers.

Penguins, by Lans Franting. There are many photo-books of penguins, but somehow I managed to end up with two copies of this one. Gorgeous pictures.

Penguin Coloring Book for Adults – This one’s more for Lorna.

Blue Penguin, by Petr Horacek. I was trying to avoid children’s book (Isla’s penguin bookshelf could easily fill a post), but this book in particular struck a chord – because the penguin is blue like Victoria, Isla’s favourite toy, she associates it with Victoria. And we have a signed copy, picked up from the Edinburgh Bookshop. Wonderfully illustrated and poignant.

What would you get for the penguin person in your life?