If you like penguins as much as I do, you know how hard it often is to find the best books about them. There are a lot — a search on "penguins" at Amazon.com yields more than 60,000 titles. (Granted, some of these are out of print, but you get the idea.)

To save penguin lovers the trouble, I’ve created PenguinBooks.com, where I list my favorite books about our flippered-but-flightless friends.

This site has been active and in use by its current owner since July 1998. It is not affiliated with the Penguin Group.

Fiction

Tearjerker

How the Penguins Saved Veronica by Hazel Prior

"A curmudgeonly but charming old woman, her estranged grandson, and a colony of penguins proves it’s never too late to be the person you want to be."

Thriller

Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov

Viktor and his pet penguin, Misha, "have been drawn into a trap from which there appears to be no escape."

Fun Mystery

The Penguin Who Knew Too Much by Donna Andrews

#8 in the Meg Langslow cozy mystery series

Recommended by a Visitor

Wendy Middleton writes:

"I love penguins and my favourite penguin book from my childhood was Mr. Popper’s Penguins. I realize that today its contents may be frowned upon, since Mr. Popper kept his penguins in a refrigerator in his basement and he painted their feathers so that he could tell them apart. However, I still think that it is a delightful penguin fiction to go along with all the factual books on your site."

Non-Fiction

Best General Books About Penguins

Every Penguin in the World: A Quest to See Them All by Charles Bergman

"[A] celebration of these delightful birds and a call for their conservation. This is a book of joy, love, and hope for penguins and the world."

Jonathan Chester and E. Migdail’s The World of the Penguin

"[A] magnificent portfolio of penguin photographs with a highly readable and authoritative text."

Best Picture Book About Penguins

Wayne Lynch’s Penguins of the World

$35.00 list (Amazon price). ISBN: 1552091805.

Other Good Penguin Books

Artist Sophie Webb’s My Season With Penguins

$15.00 (Amazon price). ISBN: 0395922917.

Louise and Larry Young’s Ice Continent: A Story of Antarctica

$6.95 (Amazon price). ISBN: 1568995008.

Kids' Books

Non-Fiction

Lynn Stone’s Penguins (Early Bird Nature Books)

Available used. ISBN: 0865923256.

National Geographic Readers: Penguins!

$4.99–$14.90 depending on binding

Also check out:

Counting Penguins (from Science Emergent Readers)

Available used. ISBN: 0590761544.

Fiction

Parker the Purple Penguin by Marybeth Wishart

"Parker, a very purple penguin, does not understand why he is not accepted by his peers."

Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester

"Will this nonconformist teach old penguins some new tricks and help save the day?"

Penguin and Pinecone by Salina Yoon

"When curious Penguin finds a lost pinecone in the snow, their friendship grows into something extraordinary!"

Miscellaneous Stuff

Tie-Ins

March of the Penguins (companion to the movie)

$30.00 (list). ISBN: 0792261828.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa: Air Penguin (Penguins of Madagascar)

$3.99 (Amazon price).

Calendars

Penguin lovers wall calendar

$9.99 (Amazon price).

National Geographic Penguins Calendar

$27.98 (Amazon price).

Penguin Poetry

Antarctic Antics: A Book of Penguin Poems

$16.00 (Amazon price). ISBN: 0152010068.