The Best Books About Penguins for Kindergarten

Reading about interesting animals is always a fun way to combine learning with engaging stories. If you’re looking for fun read alouds to include in your winter lesson plans, consider reading about penguins with your students! There is a wide variety of penguin books out there, so I’m going to narrow down the choices to some of my favorite books about penguins for kindergarten read alouds.

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The Benefits of Penguin Read Alouds

There are many different reasons why penguins are such a popular topic for early elementary classrooms:

• Engage Students in Learning – Penguins are such interesting animals that students can’t help but get sucked into fun read alouds at carpet time. While you have their attention, you can incorporate other important skills, like listening comprehension, as you read with your students.
• Create Seasonal Excitement – There can be a bit of a seasonal letdown after the holiday season is over. Continuing some winter fun into your January or February lesson plans can help to bring some seasonal excitement to your classroom. Penguin books can be just the thing to add some winter-themed activities to your daily learning routine.
• Introduce Vocabulary – Are you planning an entire penguin unit for your students? Penguin read alouds can be a great way to introduce vocabulary that your class will be using throughout the unit. Seeing the new vocabulary in action during a read aloud will make it more likely that these new concepts will stick!

As I mentioned earlier, you will find no shortage of books about penguins when you’re looking for fun ideas for your read alouds. Honestly, it can become a little bit overwhelming! That’s why I wanted to narrow it down to seven of my favorite penguin books for kindergarten.

7 Engaging Books About Penguins

When you read about penguins in kindergarten, it’s helpful to use a combination of fiction and nonfiction read alouds. The nonfiction books give you a chance to introduce penguins to your class and teach them a variety of facts about these interesting animals. That context will allow your students to better understand the characters in the penguin fiction books.

1. Penguins! By Anne Schreiber

This book is one of my favorites for introducing the different types of penguins to students. It has multiple two-page spreads so students can easily compare and contrast the different penguins. It’s easier for them to identify penguin attributes when they’re pictured side-by-side like this. This book is also great for identifying nonfiction text details like labels and captions.

2. Penguins by Jill Esbaum

This is another great nonfiction read aloud choice for a penguin unit. This book also contains great attention-grabbing photographs that will keep students engaged as you read. Plus, this book is full of kid-friendly explanations and details that will make it easier for students to learn all about penguins. The conversational tone makes this a fun option for introducing new vocabulary to students as they learn about the process of hatching and caring for a baby penguin.

3. Penguins by Kate Riggs

If you’re looking for a book with fewer words but great photographs, this is the one for you! This book is written in a very simplistic way, so your students won’t get overwhelmed by wordy explanations. The pictures in this book are the perfect companion to the carefully-worded text.

4. Little Penguin: The Emporer of Antarctica by Jonathan London

This book serves as a great bridge between nonfiction and fiction. The story of the Little Emporer will help your students see penguin facts in action. There are informative penguin details throughout this engaging story of a baby penguin who has just hatched from an egg.

5. Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester

There is a whole series of Tacky books and his stories are so fun to share in kindergarten! The first book in the series, Tacky the Penguin, is the story of a very unique penguin who doesn’t seem to fit in with everyone else. In fact, some of the fellow penguins aren’t amused by Tacky’s behavior. However, that all changes when Tacky is able to save the day by being true to himself.

6. Spike: The Penguin with Rainbow Hair by Sarah Cullen and Carmen Ellis

This is a fun story about a young penguin with rainbow hair that wishes he wasn’t so unique. He tries to hide his hair in many different ways but he just keeps standing out instead of blending in. From dying his hair with octopus ink to a haircut from a seal, Spike tries everything to get rid of his rainbow hair! The rhyming story ends with Spike discovering that his rainbow hair is something to be proud of. This is a great message that will encourage students to celebrate what makes them special and unique. 

7. Little Penguin’s Tale by Audrey Wood

This is a book you definitely want to flip through before you read it with your class, otherwise you might feel like you’ve accidentally chosen a dark read aloud! In this story, a group of seven young penguins are gathered together for a story told by their Grand Nanny. But one little penguin wanders off.  As the story unfolds, the wandering penguin from the group is living the story that the grandmother penguin is sharing. The twist at the end is always a favorite for the students!

Take a Closer Look at These Kindergarten Penguin Books

Would you like to take a closer look at all of these books about penguins? Check out this video where I flip through the pages of each book and share a few more details about these read aloud ideas.

Save These Penguin Read Aloud Book Ideas

Be sure to save this post so you can come back to it later! Just add the pin below to your favorite kindergarten board on Pinterest. You’ll be able to quickly find these fun read aloud ideas when you’re planning a penguin unit for your students.