Penguins are such a fun theme to teach in the winter. I love using picture books to teach a theme and finding a balance of fiction and nonfiction books. I've compiled ten of my favorite penguin picture books for kids. Hopefully it gives you some ideas of books you can add to your penguin study!
Tacky the Penguin is a great book about being yourself. Tacky is very different from everyone else and they tend to be bothered by him. Until one day when poachers come and Tacky's quirkiness is exactly what saves the penguins. If you fall in love with Tacky, there are other books in this series.
Flora and the Penguin is a story of friendship as Flora skates on ice with a penguin and they have to learn to work together. I love this book because it is a wordless picture book, so students really have to use their inferencing skills to figure out what is happening in the book.
Be Brave Little Penguin is a rhyming book all about having confidence in yourself, being brave and doing what scares you, which in this case is jumping in the water for Little Penguin Pip-Pip.
How to Make a Penguin Laugh is the perfect joke book for beginning readers. All penguin themed jokes/play on words written in a comic book style with one question per page and the answer on the other page.
Penguin Place Value is perfect for a cross curricular tie in between penguins and math. In this story, the family of penguins are trying to figure out how many fish they've caught using place value skills.
The Little Penguin is a book about growing up. Little Penguin wants to look like his dad, but once his feathers start to fall out, he worries that will never happen.
Penguin Sets Sail is another wordless picture book. I love using these books to have children tell the story by really paying attention to the illustrations and inferring what is happening. In this book, penguin wants to be a sea captain so he sets sail in search of treasures but realizes the ocean is big and dangerous.
Penguins is perfect for adding some nonfiction to your penguin reading. Gail Gibbons has so many kid friendly nonfiction books that are great at teaching children facts about animals.
Looking for some more penguin ideas?
Try these:
Need some more book recommendations?
Try these: