Free printable reading comprehension chapter book with online interactive questions. Recommended level: 3rd Grade and up
If Penguins Could Talk: Pingo's Story
Chapter 1 - Me and My Family
My name is Pingo. I am a two-year-old penguin. I live in Antarctica, near the South Pole, with all the other Emperor penguins.
There are no Emperor penguins anywhere else in the world - not even at the North Pole.
I live together with many other penguins. Together we form a colony.
We spend our whole lives in Antarctica where the temperature can drop down to -75°F.
We have very special ways of keeping warm, which I’ll tell you about in another chapter.
Emperor penguins are the largest penguins in the world. The tallest in my colony is Pablo, who is 4 feet tall. That’s about the same height as a 7-year-old. Emperor penguins are heavy too. Pablo weighs more than 100 pounds.
I’m not as big as Pablo. At 3 feet tall, I am as big as I’m going to get. I was fully grown by the time I was 9 months old.
A funny thing about us is that we are birds with wings, but can’t fly. We use our wings to help us swim faster underwater.
Most Emperor penguins live 15 to 20 years. Polly, a member of our colony, will be 38 this year. She’s really old for a penguin.
I am getting a bit worried about the future for Emperor penguins. Climate change is causing changes to the Antarctic sea ice that could really hurt us. In 2026 we were declared to be endangered. Scientists say we could be extinct by the year 2100 if global warming doesn't slow down. That's a very scary thought.
Who is a penguin's favorite family member? Aunt Arctica!
Who is Pingo?/a boy/a penguin/a fish/a penguin
Where does Pingo the penguin live?/Arctic/Antarctica/Australia/Antarctica
How old is Pingo?/2 years/2 months/6 years/2 years
Penguins are/birds/mammals/reptiles/birds
A group of penguins that live together is called a/herd/colony/flock/colony
Emperor penguins live at the North Pole./True/False/It doesn't say in the story./False
How do penguins use their wings?/to fly/to keep warm/to swim fast/to swim fast
How tall is Pingo?/3 feet/4 feet/7 feet/3 feet
How tall is the tallest penguin in Pingo’s colony?/3 feet/4 feet/7 feet/4 feet
How much does Pablo weigh?/40 lb/70 lb/More than 100 pounds/More than 100 pounds
How long do penguins usually live?/15-20 years/20-30 years/35-40 years/15-20 years
How old is Polly?/20/30/38/38
Chapter 2 - My First Year
The way Emperor penguins are born is very strange. Here’s my story:
Like all Emperor penguins, my mother laid an egg right in the middle of winter. Instead of sitting on it like other birds do, she left!
For two long months, my father was in charge of keeping my egg warm and safe. My mother and the other females went to the sea to fill their hungry bellies with fish.
When I finally hatched, my mother was back. She fed me by throwing up food that she had stored in her stomach.
It’s not as gross as it sounds.
For the next few months it was my father’s turn to go to the sea and gather food.
My mother fed me and kept me warm in her “brood pouch,” a feathered skin flap just above her feet.
Once I grew some feathers and got a little bigger, I started to hang around in groups with the other chicks while our parents
went off to get more food.
At about nine months, I shed my soft feathers and started to grow a thicker coat. Once it grew in, I was ready to swim,
fish, and travel to the ocean along with all the other penguins.
I am one of the lucky ones. More than half of the baby penguins don’t make it to their first birthday.
They either die of cold or are eaten by big seabirds, seals, or killer whales.
When do females lay their eggs?/winter/spring/summer/winter
How old is a penguin when it grows thick feathers?/2 months/9 months/1 year/9 months
At what age are penguins ready to hunt for food?/9 months/1 year/2 years/9 months
Who watches over the egg for the first 2 months?/the mother/the father/both the mother and father/the father
Who watches over the chick after it hatches?/the mother/the father/both the mother and father/the mother
What does the mother penguin do after laying an egg?/She sits on it./She goes away to hunt for food./She buries the egg in the snow./She goes away to hunt for food.
What is a brood pouch?/a pocket like a kangaroo has/a sac made of fish scales/a feathered flap of skin/a feathered flap of skin
Why does Pingo think he is lucky?/He made it past his first birthday./He gets to swim every day./He has lots of friends./He made it past his first birthday.
What is a strange thing about a penguin’s birth?/The mother leaves after laying an egg./The father protects the egg after it is laid./Both are true./Both are true.
Chapter 3 - My Fancy Jacket
Some people say that Emperor penguins look like they’re dressed in fancy jackets, ready to go to a formal party.
Believe me. It’s no party! Our black and white jackets help us hide from our enemies. When we’re on the icy land,
we are pretty safe. But when we’re in the ocean, we have to watch out for big seabirds, seals, sharks and whales.
They think we’re pretty tasty.
When we’re swimming in the water, our black backs look like the dark ocean water. From above, the flying seabirds
have a hard time seeing us. To animals underwater, our white bellies looks like ice and snow.
Our "jackets" have another use as well. Our black feathers gather more heat from the sun to warm us up a bit.
We can turn our backs to the sun when we feel cold and turn the other way if we feel too warm.
What’s black, white and red all over? A penguin with a sunburn!
The white belly of a penguin is like the color of/water/ice and snow/sky/ice and snow
The black back of a penguin is like the color of/deep water/ice and snow/clouds/deep water
Penguins are safer on land than in the ocean./True/False/It doesn’t say in the story./True
A penguin’s white feathers gather more heat from the sun./True/False/It doesn’t say in the story./False
Which of these are NOT enemies of penguins?/sharks/seabirds/other penguins/other penguins
What’s the purpose of a penguin’s black and white "jacket"?/to help swim faster/to stand out on the ice fields/to help hide from enemies/to help hide from enemies
Chapter 4 - My Daily Life
I am a great swimmer and spend a lot of time in the water. I can stay underwater for up to 22 minutes on just one breath.
I’m not the fastest swimmer in the world, but I can change direction and twist around quickly. That makes it hard for others to catch me.
My diving skills are excellent. On a good day I can dive down more than 1000 feet. That’s 5 times deeper than any human can dive.
I’m a lot faster in water than I am on land. I have claws on my feet that help me grip the ice as I shuffle along.
Some people say I have a funny walk, but it works for me!
I like to eat fish, squid, crabs and other seafood. I catch them while I swim.
In the summer I eat about two pounds of food every day. In the winter I live off my stored fat
and don’t go to the ocean as much for food. I only need a about a quarter of a pound then.
Sometimes we play in the water by leaping high up into the air. We also love to slide across the ice
on our bellies. It’s just like tobogganing and is lots of fun!
About how long can a penguin stay underwater?/1 minute/20 minutes/1 hour/20 minutes
A penguin can dive deeper than a human can./True/False/It doesn’t say in the story./True
A penguin eats more in the spring than in the fall./True/False/It doesn’t say in the story./It doesn’t say in the story.
Emperor penguins walk faster than they swim./True/False/It doesn’t say in the story./False
What do penguins like to eat?/fish/grass/rats/fish
What do penguins do for fun?/skate/play tag/slide on the ice/slide on the ice
About how much food does a penguin eat during the summer?/one quarter pound/one pound/two pounds/two pounds
About how much food does a penguin eat during the winter?/one quarter pound/one pound/two pounds/one quarter pound
Chapter 5 - Keeping Warm
Emperor penguins are the only animals that can live on the open ice of the Antarctic. During the winter,
we face cold winds, blizzards and temperatures as low as -75°F.
How do we keep warm?
For starters, we have layers of scaly feathers that give us a waterproof coat. This really helps when the icy winds are blowing.
We also have a lot of fat stored in our bodies. This fat is like energy that our bodies can burn to make heat.
Another special thing we do is work together to keep warm by huddling up in big groups. We shuffle around and take turns
moving into the warm center. Everyone makes sure that the young penguins stay in the middle. Their coats aren’t thick enough
yet to block out all the cold air.
I really love cold weather. I think that the way we Emperor penguins deal with the cold makes us very special animals.
We work together to stay warm. It’s a nice feeling to stand close together with all my friends and family.
Emperor penguins can live in temperatures as cold as -75°F./True/False/It doesn’t say in the story./True
Penguins’ stored fat makes energy to keep them warm./True/False/It doesn’t say in the story./True
Penguins’ thick feathers keep them dry, but don’t keep them warm./True/False/It doesn’t say in the story./False
Penguins keep warm by/huddling together/jumping up and down/swimming in warm water/huddling together
What does “to huddle” mean?/to shuffle your feet/to roll around/to stand close together/to stand close together
Why do penguins stand in the middle of the huddle?/That’s where the food is./That’s where they sleep./That’s the warmest spot./That’s the warmest spot.
Which penguins stay the longest in the middle of the huddle?/the youngest penguins/the oldest penguins/the tallest penguins/the youngest penguins
Chapter 6 - Happy Feet, My Famous Cousin
In 2011, long before I was born, a young penguin from our colony got lost.
No one knows how he did it, but 10 month old Pete ended up 2000 miles away on a beach in New Zealand.
How did he get that far? Maybe he was picked up by some fishermen. Maybe he just swam all the way. No one can figure it out.
Finding an Emperor penguin in New Zealand was a huge surprise. The last time a penguin was spotted there was 44 years earlier.
The people who found Pete named him Happy Feet. They took him to the vet clinic at the Wellington Zoo.
He was very weak and his stomach was full of weird stuff like twigs, stones and sand. He had to have a few operations to clear it all out.
Happy Feet became a celebrity. People all over the world were very curious about this lost penguin.
They followed his progress and came to the zoo to watch him be fed and treated by the doctors.
After 10 weeks at the zoo, Happy Feet was put on a ship and dropped off in the cold waters of the ocean
500 miles from where he was found.
Happy Feet wore a tracker, but it stopped sending signals 2 weeks after he was dropped off.
No one knows what happened to him. Did the tracker fall off? Was Happy Feet killed by a whale?
I want to believe that he found his way back to Antarctica, because there’s no place like home.
How old was Pete when he went missing?/10 months/1 year/2 years/10 months
In what country was Pete found?/Arctic/Australia/New Zealand/New Zealand
Where was Pete found?/on a beach/on an iceberg/on a floating raft/on a beach
How long did Happy Feet stay at the zoo?/10 months/1 year/10 weeks/10 weeks
Happy Feet swam all the way back to Antarctica./True/False/No one knows./No one knows.
Where was Happy Feet taken to get help?/A ship/The Wellington Zoo/The New Zealand Penguin Centre/The Wellington Zoo
Why did Happy Feet need operations?/to fix cuts from shark bites/to fix his heart/to remove stuff from his stomach/to remove stuff from his stomach
How did Pete end up 2000 miles away from home?/He swam./He hopped on the back of a whale./No one knows./No one knows.
Where did Happy Feet go after the zoo?/to the New Zealand Penguin Centre/on a plane to Antarctica/on a ship to be dropped in the ocean/on a ship to be dropped in the ocean
Who is a penguin's favorite family member?
