The Penguin That Hated The Cold

I remember as a child loving to have my mom or dad read me a story. I had a whole set of small Disney books that were hardcover. I would listen to those same stories over and over again being read to me at bedtime.

When I graduated my junior year of college, I remember finding those books and picking out the ones that I had not colored in or branded all over with my name. I set them aside and started my collection of children’s books for when I had my own classroom. I thought it would be important to share with my future students books that I remembered reading or having read to me as a child. This would be my way of sharing not only a story, but also a beloved memory.

One of my favorite books as a child, from my Disney collection, was The Penguin That Hated The Cold. I do not know if it was a favorite just because of the silliness of a penguin who did not enjoy the weather from where he was born and raised, or if it was because of the sight of snow brought such a thrill. Either way, I remember almost memorizing this particular book.

The story is of a penguin who lives in an igloo, who does not enjoy the cold at all. He has a stove in his igloo and walks around wearing winterwear, at the very least a hat, gloves, and a scarf.

He decides one day that he is so tired of all the snow and the ice and the cold, and so he is going to move away to somewhere warmer. The story does not tell where he will go. Just that he is currently in the South Pole and will find somewhere warmer with a map.

He first tries to leave by attaching his warm stove to his back. It is much too heavy and so he ends up going backwards on a hill and ends up upside down and frozen. His fellow penguins warm him back up by putting him in a warm shower, with his skis still on and all.

The next try to get to a warmer habitat leads the penguin to tie hot water bags to his feet and body. Unfortunately, this melts the snow and ice that he is standing on, when he gets still long enough to study his map. Once again, his friends come through and save him. They defrost him this time, because he is a block of ice, by placing him on his woodstove.

The last and final time the penguin sets out, he decides to take his entire home, stove, and all with him by cutting out a boat shaped piece of ice where his home is located. He successfully reaches warmer climate, but his home and boat all end up melting. Luckily, he gets into the tub and attaches the shower head to where the drain is, and this turns his little tub into a motorboat. Thus, he safely reaches a warm island. This island just happens to not be uninhabited and has bananas. He builds a new igloo or hut, made of leaves and branches and lives happily ever after.

I always find it funny to relive reading an old book and going through the emotions that book brings out. I could feel anxiety as the penguin kept setting out for a new world. I guess as a child the thought of setting out on my own was terrifying, or either I remembered that he was not going to succeed, and the thought of failure tied my stomach in knots. Actually, the thought of failure still ties me up in knots.

I had not read this book in ages. It was not a favorite of either of my children even though I know they have both had it read to them at least once. Funny how those thoughts I had of sharing my childhood memories with my own children were so golden at one time. In reality, both my daughter and my son have had their own interests and even the toys that I once just knew I would pass down, I ended up donating or throwing away because they were not the same toys I remember putting away to pass down to my next generation.

I still have those residual emotions tied to childhood books and the memories they stir. I even talked about this to my husband last night as I made chocolate gravy and biscuits. It’s a treat that both him and I enjoy, but neither one of our children like. I asked him if he thought it was really the taste of the food itself or the memories it brings back that we enjoy. He said he believed it was a combination.

I tend to agree. I read books or recommend books to my own kids. I reread the books with them, and I have all these memories the books will bring back. Things that I have forgotten sometimes, like the feel of being next to my mom and snuggling in and being safe and warm. Memories that make me be a little more patient with my own son who is most definitely his mother’s child and is a snuggler to the nth degree.

When I look on some of these stories though, and really read them for the topic presented, they were not that great. I mean it’s incredibly silly for a penguin to wear clothes and have an igloo with a wood stove inside. That was the great thing about books that stretched your imagination though. They did not have to make sense.

Actually, I think it could be argued that lack of imagination for many adults is a lack of trying new things or being inventive. Maybe if we all went back to that childhood time where we believed that it was perfectly normal for a penguin to walk around with clothes, we would be that much closer to a cure for all types of cancer and other ailments with the world. I can promise you that my little genius is convinced that a new type of bomb, or a cure for cancer is not out of the realm of what he could one day accomplish. The teen, not so much; instead we are constantly having to reassure her of her potential. Maybe a touch of silly Disney books, or stories, is just what more teenagers, and adults, could use in their lives.