The Penguin Lessons

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It wasn’t really that strange – if I’d turned up with a dog, nobody would’ve batted an eyelid. A penguin wasn’t wildly different – they live there. So if somebody simply decides they’re getting a tortoise, would you make a lot of fuss about it? The difference is actually that tortoises aren’t as personable as penguins. So it was certainly his character that got people coming out to the terrace where I installed him. I'm afraid I slipped by the sea and fell in. I'm fine, really, no bones broken. I just need to have a hot shower before I catch my death of cold.' I loved this book, and you will, too! It’s as charming, heartwarming, and surprising as a penguin on a roof terrace. What’s more, The Penguin Lessons teaches an important truth: that a single act of compassion can be repaid a thousand-fold.” —Sy Montgomery, author of The Good Good Pig and the National Book Award finalist The Soul of an Octopus

I was hoping against hope that the penguin would survive because as of that instant he had a name, and with his name came the beginning of a bond which would last a life-time." Being a lover of penguins (all species), I could see myself falling completely in love with Juan Salvador just as many of the people from the boys’ school do. J.S. becomes a dear friend and confidant to many of the staff and boys as well as Mr. Michell. A perk of Michell's job is that he had much time to travel throughout South America. On one journey he explored Punta del Este, Uruguay and found a beach full of penguins destroyed by an oil spill. Only one penguin miraculously survived, and Michell decided to adopt him and so named the bird Juan Salvado (saved).In this extract from The Twat Files, Dawn French talks flirtatious attempts and trying to get herself cast in a West End play. While I could have done without the author's fabricated conversational responses from the penguin, the overwhelming experience of the book is in the moving, unusual friendships formed between the little penguin and the people who meet him. Quería leer este libro desde que lo publicaron porque la sinopsis me atrapó por completo. Me encantan los animales y si juntamos; animales más mar… me ganas. Y la verdad que no me arrepiento de haberlo leído porque me ha encantando conocer la historia de Tom y conocer al pequeño Juan Salvado. 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.

Cattaneo said he sparked to the tale’s “visceral setting of the political strife of late-’70s Argentina and a man’s unexpected bond with a penguin at its heart.” Michell’s travels include a quest to find a new home for Juan Salvado, and readers are sure to enjoy the travelogue as well as the story of the penguin himself (Michell’s description of the noses of elephant seal bulls on Peninsula Valdés is one of the best I’ve read: “having a pendulous protuberance like a large crumpled boot where they could reasonably expect to have a nose”). One day, I believe, we will be able to confirm that many animals have the capacity to understand and process information and experience emotions to a far more sophisticated degree than opinion currently holds."

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A much-beloved tale about a much-beloved bird ... heartwarmingly eccentric.... It's bound to be a hit Guardian In the midst of this poverty, uncertainty, and political strife, Juan Salvado wins over staff, students, and employees alike as he lives on the outdoor terrace of Michell’s campus housing. Students vie for the privilege of buying him food from the local fishmonger and taking part in his care. Many simply enjoy spending time talking to Juan Salvado. “Juan Salvado was such a good listener, patiently absorbing everything that was said to him, from observations about the weather to secrets of the heart, and he never once interrupted. He looked people straight in the eye and always paid such close attention to what was said that his guests were inclined to talk to him on equal terms—they thought him a wise old bird.” I have also been out to the Magellenic penguin colony at Punta Tombo that Michell describes so vividly. Nearly three decades later, there were (ineffective) barriers in place to keep tourists and penguins separate. Despite them, there were people manhandling some of the birds and treating them more like amusements than like wild animals. I was travelling with a small group, but entire cruise ships were disgorging vast crowds of people into the natural area. I was far happier on the following day when our local guide took us to a smaller, more remote rookery where we were the only people present.