From the amazing success of the documentary March of the Penguins to the popular penguins in Madagascar to this fall’s upcoming penguin-themed movie Happy Feet, penguins are everywhere! That’s especially true for the family in 365 Penguins, who find a penguin mysteriously delivered to their door every day for a year. At first they’re cute, but with every passing day, the penguins pile up—along with the family’s problems. Feeding, cleaning, and housing the penguins becomes a monumental task. They’re noisy and smelly, and they always hog the bathroom! And who on earth is sending these kwaking critters? In a large format, and with lots of opportunity for counting, 365 Penguins is sure to become a perennial wintertime favorite.
This is definitely a good start for New Year: At New Year's day at 9 AM, there is a knock on the door and the family gets a penguin as a present. For each day, they get a penguin until it gets out of control! The illustration is unique using just few colors and minimal patterns compared to other kid's books. I really love how every single penguin is illustrated and how freely each scene is presented on the pages. While the penguins are similar, there are some differences when you look closely. Also, it's a nice approach for kids to get familiar with numbers I guess. I actually just bought this because I like penguins and just thought they were lovely, haha.
I have never met the authors or illustrators of this super fine children's book - but nevertheless they chose to illustrate me in as the father. I know that sounds strange, but all my friends, enemies, and a couple of strangers off the street have told me that without a doubt the father in the book is me.
The hairstyle is the same, the glasses are the same, and what is even more creepy, the clothing is the same. I felt like they have been observing me behind trees, trashcans, questionable movie theaters to capture my essense.
Happily this is a very nice oversized book for kids. And kids love this book. It's about a family that takes one penguin into their household, and then another shows up - and then another - till 365 Penguins in total invade the father's household. Sounds Kafka and creepy like - but it's an enjoyable adventure!
A family are somewhat bemused when they receive a gift of a penguin on January 1st. Then another one arrives the next day, and another on the third. So it goes, as a new penguin arrives every day for a year. Needless to say, this involves the family in all sorts of problems - how does one care for so many penguins?! - but it also presents some opportunities for fun mathematical problems. In the end, the mystery of who is sending these avian guests is resolved...
Originally published in Frances as 365 Pingouins, this oversized picture-book is the second title I have read from author/artist team Jean-Luc Fromental and Joëlle Jolivet, following upon their Bonesville. As I finished it, I couldn't help feeling that I was meant to find it far more amusing then I did, especially given how entertaining I found their other book. That said, it was engaging enough, and I can certainly see how others would really enjoy it, given its mixture of oddball family adventure story, mathematical education, and appealing artwork. I'm not sure why it didn't quite work for me - perhaps I just wasn't in the right frame of mind? Whatever the case may be, although I didn't love 365 Penguins, I would still recommend it, especially to fans of this author and illustrator.
This is a delightful book for young readers. The illustrations, all in orange & black & blue (and white) are wonderful and the three/four colors only end up being particularly effective. It’s funny and cute (especially for someone like me who appreciates penguins), and it’s educational too. There’s opportunity throughout to do math problems as part of the telling of the story. And there are great messages about overpopulation and global warming, about the necessity to take proper care of companion animals, and even a bit of a mystery that’s solved in a hilarious way by the end of the book. Every page of the book is very busy and it’s fun for kids to look at everything on each page as they read the book or the book is read to them. And besides the penguins and the humans, one other animal does make an appearance at the end of the book, and that’s depicted in a humorous & educational way as well. I loved this book.
Super! Fajne ilustracje, śmieszna, odjechana historyjka (w zgrabnym przekładzie), nie nudzi nawet po entym czytaniu, a mimochodem zaznajamia z liczbami, z mnożeniem i z kalendarzem. Mi tylko przeszkadza olbrzymi format (dla mnie bardzo niewygodne), ale dzieci to lubią, więc niech mają ;)
I am not a fan of this book. The book is supposed to help students practice their math skills, but the loose story of an uncle in Antartica sending more and more penguins is a bit disturbing. The uncle is supposed to be trying to save the penguins, but he send them in small crates and overwhelms a single house with 365 penguins. The thin environmental message is overshadowed by the fact that the penguins are not living a good life in their new, foreign environment--they get stuffed in filing cabinets and cubbies.
Teaches addition, multiplication, cubes, and shapes with the answers upside down on the page.
The orange, black and white illustrations are simplistic and reminiscent of older picture books before revolutions in printing capabilities came about.
It's not often that I give a kids' book five stars...this one deserves it though! What a wonderfully funny story...and a good math lesson for the kids too, featuring their favorite animal.
Another great Christmas present! Thanks lucy! A story about penguins! Also has maths and an ecological message. The penguin is my spirit animal so I really relate.
this book is absolutely terrible and, worst of all, my kid loves it. i rue the day i found it in a charity shop for 20p and brought it home. it is ruining my life.
Really great picture book, love the illustrations and the bold colours - educational too with elements of maths and animal conservation. Recommended read!
this book is about 365 penguins they come every day for the rest of the year at new years day uncle victor came and explained why he sent all of them in a year its becase Thar territory was geting smaller and the secret was sending one penguin a day to your family during one year and he toke all of them to the noth pole but one litlle chiily with his blue feet.they had big problems with all of them.
This was an adorably illustrated book with fun math and number organization included! It's an entertaining read aloud and I am thinking of some fun math lessons to tie in with it. The conservation tag is for a brief mention of climate change, but the care of the penguins and the premise are in no way accurate. :)
I love the illustrations in this book. It deals with adding bigger numbers. There are other things to add in the book besides the penguins: footprints, people, boxes, etc. A lot of math opportunities in this would. It would be good to teach place value and adding / subtracting larger numbers.
The kids seemed to enjoy 365 Penguins. They laughed at the funny parts, especially at the ending, and enjoyed watching the family try to solve their penguin dilemma. In addition to being a cute story with a sense of humor, it's also a math story full of equations employed in the family's attempt to organize their growing pengin collection.
Math is not really my favorite or my best subject, but my niece loves math, so I thought she would enjoy that aspect of the story as well. I think that she actually found it somewhat interruptive, though, and wasn't interested in being pulled out of the story to solve a math problem. In the end I just read the story and let her appreciate it as a story. I did like the author's attempt to show kids real-world applications for math, since a common refrain is "when am I ever going to use this?!"
I was a little concerned that the kids would not be very impressed with the pictures in this book. Black, white (of course), orange, and blue made up the palette used, so there were no in-your-face, eye-poppingly bright colors. But the kids didn't mind the pictures at all, and even seemed to enjoy them.
In the end, this is a cute, funny book that the kids enjoyed, and that teachers and parents could use as a math tool.
365 Penguins by Jean-Luc Fromental, illustrated by Joëlle Jolivet, translated, published 2006.
Magic realism.
Picture book.
Grades K-4.
Found via School Library Journal, reviewed by Barbara Auerbach.
On January 1, a penguin arrives by mail at a family's house, with a note to feed it when it's hungry. The next day, another penguin arrives, and so on until there are 365 penguins on December 31. As the number of penguins increases, the family's at a loss for what to do with them, so they arrange them in various mathematical configurations and figure out how much food they all need. This is a recipe for hilarity, as well as many, many math problems. This book is filled with ideas for math problems, and it provides the answers so children can check themselves as they go along. This book is daunting to read for storytime, but it would be good to work through with an adult, especially since it touches on environmentalism alongside math. Reviewer Auerbach agrees, stressing the book's cross-curricular possibilities: "The text provides endless opportunities for word problems, and units on penguins and global warming will never be the same." Beyond a lot of math, there's nothing objectionable in this book, and it should make learning math fun and charming.
365 penguins is a book about a lot of penguins. A family finds a penguin mysteriously delivered to their house door. Although the first penguin was a lovely surprise, the quantity of penguin’s increased everyday and soon the total reached to 365.
This book is ideal for story time as it is an amazing and fun book for children, to create a calm yet enjoyable atmosphere. Not only does the book include colourful bold images that make it eye-catching and get the children engaged, but it also makes it easy for them to visualise a lot of penguins.
There are many areas this book can relate to, for example, children can create penguins or draw them for Art and Design. Secondly, children can demonstrate the expressions that are shown in the book by the characters, and also be encouraged to solve the mystery of who is sending the penguins to the family. Another area this book can link to is Mathematics, this is because there are many mathematical questions in the book, such as ’31 + 28 =?’. This allows the reader to calculate 31 penguins and 28 penguins altogether. Since this book can be used in Maths lessons as an activity of counting penguins and solving problems, it is a wonderful and useful resource to reinforce knowledge.
On the first day of the new year a penguin arrives at a home in France. He's followed by another, and another, and another, until the house is overflowing with penguins. As the two children in the family struggle to care for the ever increasing brood, Dad tries to organize them mathematically, and mom tries to solve the puzzle of the mysterious penguin perpetrator. At the end of the year, their ecologist uncle turns up to explain his elaborate and expensive plan to rescue the penguins from global warming. He's then off to the arctic to save the polar bears...
There's so much to explore in this book that leans slightly toward the absurd. Math concepts, environmental issues, pet care -- they're all packed in a very funny story that will have children in grades 1 through 3 laughing out loud.
This is a fantastic book which would be a great addition to any classroom particularly KS1 or lower key stage 2. The hardback book is beautifully presented and it offers many opportunities for learning across the curriculum. It’s particularly useful for maths and times tables. The penguins keep multiplying and it’s a great way of introducing repeated addition. I used this for a maths lesson and the pages have varying numbers of penguins which offer great opportunities for differentiating the lesson with 2, 5 and 10 times tables. This book can also be linked to geography and how habitats are changing under mans influence on the environment. Finally it is a lovely story which will appeal to younger children.
You should get this book because, well, penguins! Jean-Luc Fromental and Joëlle Jolivet capture the penguin’s quirkiness to perfection. The story begins when a penguin shows up outside the door of a family’s home. The next day another penguin arrives. And on day three…I think you can guess what happens. The book is filled with fun math equations and clues, and about halfway through the book a penguin arrives that is not like the others. -- Karina Glaser