Notes from The Radical Reader:

• Noble Characters: Mr. Popper loved reading about faraway places that he was never able to visit. But when the South Pole comes to visit him in the form of a penguin lovingly named Captain Cook, Mr. Popper discovers that the adventures at home can sometimes be as great as those abroad.
• Captivating Plots: What happens when a penguin arrives at your front door? You move everything out of the icebox and make that its new home. Or rather, that’s what the Popper family does. But when another penguin follows and ten more after that, how will the Poppers be able to financially support themselves and their penguin brood?
• Elaborate Worlds: 432 Proudfoot Avenue had never seen a penguin as its occupant until that fateful September afternoon when one arrived by Air Express from the South Pole. From that moment on, the whole country was set to be shaken as the Popper family and their penguins entered the public eye.