“Golly, Miss! A lot amiss. A Missing hippopotamus! Good thing we’re here. The best, hands down, of hippo-hunter in the town.”
Thats Not a Hippopotamus! By Juliette Maclver and Sarah Davis
Other than lunch what is the best part of school according to many kids? Okay, other than recess too. That’s right! Field trips! This book is all about one wonderfully, crazily, memorable field trip taken to the zoo. It takes me back to my teaching days and I think because of that I may get a bit more of a kick out of seeing all the poor teachers frantic expressions with all the dramatic behaviors of her students. I don’t know who was more nervous and excited whenever field trips rolled around in my class, me or the kids. That being said, I feel there is a wide audience of readers that would really appreciate the fun that is contained in this book.
It starts when Ms. Whiskersniff takes her class to a safari for said field trip. One of the little boys points out that they don’t have a hippopotamus included in their exhibit. The safari leader heads off to prove that they do, in fact, have one residing there when they discover that the hippo is missing! Well, this sets off all of the children into a ginormous hippopotamus search. Never have you seen such eager and reckless helpers. They start running off in all directions catching various animals that are most definitely NOT hippopotamuses.
Throughout their search there is one little boy named Liam who has something very important to say. However, every time he tries to say it he is cut-off by a stressed and frazzled teacher. What he is trying to express is that he sees the hippopotamus.
One of the best parts of this book is that in every spread where a child grabs a wrong animal, if you look closely, you can see the hippopotamus! The hilarious connection is that you can see that Liam sees him too and is often looking or pointing at him. This happens over and over again and starts to feel like a sort of secretive joke that the reader personally shares with poor little Liam.
One of the other best parts is the catchy text. Juliette uses rhyme, rhythm, short sentences and repetition to write a text that is a blast to read! It has a fast and frantic feel to it that matches the illustrations and all the “iss”‘s and “us”‘s just add to the fun, making it a perfect read aloud. She is really a master of language.
Then there are the illustrations! I love them! As I mentioned above, I get a kick out of the teachers expressions. But, I cannot fail to mention that her students expressions are just as fantastic. It is obvious that they are having the time of their life that they will never forget! I love Julliete Maclver and Sarah Davis as a team and am off to see if they have any other books together. If they don’t, I definitely have my fingers crossed that they make some more!
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