It’s hard to resist this charming account of a young British man who went to Argentina in the 1970s and accidentally adopted a penguin. Michell is creditably thoughtful and empathetic in his assessments of the country and the environment, despite being a self-confessed irresponsible white boy. He evokes Juan Salvado, the penguin he saved from an oil spill, with great affection and vividness. The reader cannot help loving such a charismatic and fascinating creature. Michell admits that he and everyone else who was fond of Juan Salvador anthropomorphised him no end (for instance, assuming he was male). This behaviour is entirely understandable, though. Michell worked in a boarding school and his pupils were of course enchanted with the penguin living among them. Michell analyses their interactions in a light-hearted style: I can't remember the last time I read a book that made me smile so continuously' 5***** Reader Review Op een gegeven moment gaat het over een jongen die sociaal niet helemaal meekomt met de groep, en de manier waarop de andere jongens over hem praten wordt heel erg goed gepraat door de auteur. Dat vond ik een beetje irritant: 'De jongens die niet van een dagelijkse pot rugby hielden werden weleens als de 'zwakke broeders' beschouwd.' 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”).

From all the time you spent with Juan Salvador, do you have one standing moment that you will always remember? Marley & Me with a penguin. Well, sort of. I don’t know about you, but I’m a bit peeved at how this has been roped in for Christmas advertising on Goodreads. It would indeed make a good holiday gift for an animal-lover, but this emphasizes the twee aspects of what is otherwise a sweet if slight story about the author keeping a Magellanic penguin as a pet while he was teaching in an Argentina boarding school in the 1970s.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, specializing in birds of prey.

In 1975, twenty-three-year-old Englishman Tom Michell follows his wanderlust to Argentina, where he becomes assistant master at a prestigious boarding school. But Michell’s adventures really begin when, on a weekend in Uruguay, he rescues a penguin covered in oil from an ocean spill, cleans the bird up, and attempts to return him to the sea. The penguin refuses to leave his rescuer’s side. “That was the moment at which he became my penguin, and whatever the future held, we’d face it together,” says Michell in this charming memoir. Witty and heartwarming, The Penguin Lessons is a classic in the making, a story that is both absurd and wonderful, exactly like Juan Salvador. Y no hace falta decir que Juan Salvado me ha ganado 100%, es tan adorable… Jo, yo también quiero un pingüino.Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley, too, for letting me read an ARC of this book in exchange for this, an honest review. 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.” The penguin, named Juan Salvado, flourishes under Tom’s care. Although Tom explores options of turning Juan over to the Buenos Ares zoo, or returning him to the wild, neither of these pan out and seeing that Juan is thriving Tom decides to raise him. This is an enchanting and beautifully written book, about an unusual relationship between a man and a penguin, and it's full of the glorious flavours of Argentina in the 1970s. I cannot give it a better review than Caren's - which is here....

A unique and moving real-life story of the extraordinary bond between a young teacher and a penguin, this book will delight readers who loved Marley & Me, Dewey the Library Cat, The Good Good Pig, and any book by Jon Katz.Os recomiendo mucho esta historia a todos los que os gusten los animales. Y para los que temáis por pasarlo mal... Os prometo que no es una historia muy triste, puede que se os escape una lagrimita en algún momento, pero sin llegar a sufrir mucho. Os lo prometo. 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.”

When I saw the cover of “The Penguin Lessons,” I simply couldn’t resist reading it, and I’m glad I didn’t or I would have missed out on a great story. It’s lighter than most of my book club books but it’s not fluff. It is an engaging story and a lovely meditation on friendships, relationships in general, mentoring, nature, how humans impact the ecosystem, and on adventure and seeking out & experiencing the new. This is such a heartwarming book and Michell does everything he is able to provide us with as many stories related to Juan Salvador and share as much relevant information as possible. With that being said, he is left straying into territory that I find irrelevant to this story. I thought, well, perhaps I ought to clean it, and perhaps it would survive if I did. So once you rescued him from the beach, what happened? I enjoyed the mix of information about the areas/nature, the author, the people he encountered, and especially the penguin. I appreciated the scientific information that is included, especially that added toward the end of the book that helps explain exactly why the penguin behaved as it did.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.' an enormous number of species the world over, including penguins, have suffered population declines of eighty or ninety per cent and are now considered ‘endangered’, while others have become extinct" Far more adventurous that I ever was or will be, Mr. Michell takes a first job at a boy’s school in Argentina during a restless time in that lovely country’s history. The monetary inflation in 1975 Argentina could double the prices of things in weeks, days, sometimes even hours. My first visit to beautiful Argentina was in 2002 and the banks were often closed for exactly the same reason! While we were in Buenos Aires, those who needed local currency went down to the leather-merchant just a few doors down from our hotel. He would look at your money, look in the air as if communing with the gods of commerce, and then offer you a sum of Argentine pesos. I have no idea if we got a reasonable exchange rate, but that should be the least of one’s worries when travelling. If you are well enough off to do the travelling, you can take a small haircut on monetary conversions, I think.