I was sorely disappointed when I was asked by Kova PR if I’d like to attend a preview screening a couple of weeks ago of the brand new film The Penguin Lessons, starring Steve Coogan and based on the book of the same name by Tom Michell, but I wasn’t able to get to Soho in time after my regular book group meeting. However, I’m delighted to welcome Tom to Linda’s Book Bag today to chat with me all about the film and the book The Penguin Lessons.
Let’s find out more:
Staying in with Tom Michell
Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag Tom and thank you for staying in with me. Which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it?
This would be The Penguin Lessons!
I thought it might be! What can we expect from an evening in with The Penguin Lessons – both the book and the film?
Converting a book into a film is a very interesting process, but not full of astonishing things, it’s all quite logical really.
- Films have to cut out a great deal. A 2 hour film cannot cover a 10 hour read.
- Much of my book is a description of what I can see, what I’m doing and what I’m thinking about. That monologue has to be a dialogue and events have to happen to people. That appears to require lots of changes. BUT… if you think about the conversations with the fictitious people required for the dialogue as being nothing other than the monologue in Tom’s mind then the two things, book and film are very closely aligned. Think of the Life of Pi. Was the huge Bengal tiger in the life boat real, or in Pi’s mind? Without the terrifying man eating monster in the lifeboat with the boy, there is nothing but a boy, bobbing about in a boat for days, struggling to survive. That isn’t an interesting film. But let us see the tiger and Bingo!!
- The story of the penguin is identical in book and film.
Interesting. I think the timing is one of the reasons I prefer to read rather than listen to audio books (apart from the fact that I’m at an age where I nod off). It takes so long to read it to me and, you’re right, films must be selective.
What else have you brought and why have you brought it?
The thing that brings me greatest pleasure is the incorporation of The Penguin Lessons into the national curriculum of South Korea. I have the textbook.
Wow! That’s amazing Tom. How exciting.
When a nation of some 50 million people (and arguably the highest educational standard in the world) comes to a totally unknown author and says ‘We want to put your story in front of our most precious asset, our youth, our high school children of 14 – 16 years of age, because it has something about it which we believe is good and will help them.’ That is orders of magnitude greater than any literary prize, even if it doesn’t have all the razzamataz and self-congratulatory hype associated with those rewards.
I think education is worth far more than endless awards Tom. Thank you so much for staying in with me to chat about The Penguin Lessons. Congratulations on both the film and the book.
The Penguin Lessons
Tom Michell is in his roaring twenties: single, free-spirited and seeking adventure. He has a plane ticket to South America, a teaching position in a prestigious Argentine boarding school, and endless summer holidays.
What he doesn’t need is a pet. What he really doesn’t need is a pet penguin.
But while on holiday in Uruguay he spots a penguin struggling in an oil slick and knows he has to help. And then the penguin refuses to leave his side . . .
Clearly Tom has no choice but to smuggle it across the border, through customs, and back to school. He names him Juan Salvador.
Whether it’s as the rugby team’s mascot, the housekeeper’s confidant, the host at Tom’s parties or the most flamboyant swimming coach in world history, Juan Salvador transforms the lives of all he meets – including Tom, who discovers a compadre like no other . . .
The Penguin Lessons film came out from Lionsgate on 18th April 2025 and the book is published, appropriately, by Penguin and is available for purchase through the publisher links here.
About Tom Michell
Tom Michell was born and grew up on the rural downs of southern England, where he grew to love animals, birds and plants. After living in Argentina he returned home and settled in Cornwall where he helps with the family business, tends a small plot of what he calls ‘good Cornish soil’ and sings with a local choir. He is an amateur artist and in his spare time he draws and paints subjects from the wildlife around his home, specializing in birds of prey. Tom is an enthusiastic proponent of understanding how humans can live in genuinely sustainable ways. He is married with four grown-up children and three grandchildren.
English (US) · 