“But the original Popper Penguins were able to go live in the wild,” Nina protested.
Dr. Drake nodded. “You’ll remember that Mr. Popper’s first penguin, Captain Cook, was an adult. When he was a chick, he’d been around other penguins. By the time chicks were in Stillwater, they had other penguins around to imprint on. These two weren’t in the same situation, unfortunately. It’s not your fault—you did the best you could with these eggs. But I’m afraid they won’t survive out here in the wild without parents, just like human children wouldn’t.”
With that, Mae let out a loud squid burp as she picked up a black rook with her beak, deftly depositing it on the other side of the board. Ernest squawked in outrage at the move, then settled down. He gently tapped each of the white pieces with his beak, considering his options.
“It’s true, there aren’t many chess sets in the wild,” Joel said.
“Or nature hours for Ernest to listen to on the radio,” Nina added.
“I suspect these aren’t gentoos, either, but Magellanic penguins. Those penguins don’t even live in the Antarctic, but in South America. To be honest, Ernest might be female and Mae might be male. I could be wrong on that, though—even after all these years working with penguins, it’s still hard for me to tell the sexes apart without a blood test.”
“Oh my,” Nina said.
Just then there was a clamor outside as the Popper Penguins finished their big act. Mrs. Popper and Yuka burst in, breathless. “This was the best show yet!” Mrs. Popper said. “The Popper Penguins have really gotten their comic timing down. I’m proud of them.”
“At least the Popper Penguins have found a good home,” Joel said. “They’re basically celebrities down here.”
Nina threw her arms around her mother’s waist, burying her face in the pockets of her puffy coat. “Mae and Ernest aren’t even the same species as all these other penguins, Mom,” she cried.
“Oh dear,” Mrs. Popper said. “What would you suggest, Dr. Drake? What’s best for our little penguins?”
“They can’t live in the wild, but they could do a lot of good for the penguins that do,” Dr. Drake said. “As the planet warms from human activity, this ice is melting, and the penguins’ homeland is in greater and greater danger. Sometimes we lose entire colonies of penguins because of the melting ice down here. It sounds like the Penguin Pavilion didn’t do things right, but you could. What if you brought Mae and Ernest to visit schools in the winter, when it’s cold enough for them to be out and about, so kids everywhere could learn about penguins? Other times of year, scientists and interested children could come visit your birds in your frozen basement. I’m sure the Popper Foundation would be interested in funding such a place, with you as the caretaker.”
Mrs. Popper looked surprised. “Money has been tight, and I’d be honored to do something to help the penguins. I’ve been making some charcoal sketches of the Popper show. Maybe I could sell art of Mae and Ernest, to support the Popper Foundation’s work.”
Nina kept her arms around her mother but pulled her head back to look up, amazed. “Really?” she said, her face streaked with tears.
Joel jumped up and down. “This is amazing! We’re going to keep Mae and Ernest!”
The penguins in question scolded the humans for their interruption, before returning to their chess game.
“I’m going to stay down here with Dr. Drake, writing my dissertation on the transmission of knowledge between generations of gentoo penguins,” Yuka said. “But I’ll need to go back up to Stillwater first to draft my study plan with my professor. I could take you—and our two young penguin ambassadors—up with me.”
“That’s great news, Yuka,” Mrs. Popper said. “And great news for the gentoo penguins, that they’ll be the subjects of your study.”
“It’s just about as far away from home as an Inuit can get,” he said. “My family will miss me for a few years.”
“I’m sure they’ll be very proud of your contribution to science,” Mrs. Popper said.
“I hope so!”
And so it was that only a few days later, the Popper family and their two young penguins lined up at the stern of the boat. “Just think, Joel!” Nina said. “We’re going to be bringing our penguins back to school, after all!”
“And for a good purpose this time,” Joel added.
The boat began to pull away from the dock. In unison, Mae and Ernest made a new kind of noise, a sort of yewk.
“What does that call mean?” Mrs. Popper asked as she waved goodbye to Dr. Drake.
“I think it means they’re content,” Joel said.
“‘Content,’” Nina said. “That word was on my spelling test, once upon a time.”
“Content is a very nice thing for a young penguin to be,” Mrs. Popper said.
Yuka blasted the boat’s horn, and with that sound the Poppers waved goodbye to Antarctica. Joel and Nina lifted the penguins so that they could say goodbye, too, which they did dramatically, waving their flippers as hard as they could. Then Yuka sped the boat up, and they were plowing through the waves, heading back home and to whatever adventures it held in store.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I’m so grateful to Florence and Richard Atwater for crafting one of the true classics of children’s literature, full of fun and adventure—and a great respect for animals. The Atwaters created a world in which truly magical events occurred (like a penguin being mailed from the Antarctic!) yet also treated the Poppers’ experience living with penguins realistically and believably. Mr. Popper’s Penguins is full of heart and whimsy, and it was a delight to get to pay homage to their vision. I once stayed up late on a school night to finish Mr. Popper’s Penguins—I wish I could go back and tell that young
