I've Lost My Hippopotamus

Prelutsky, Jack

ISBN 10: 0062014587 ISBN 13: 9780062014580

Publisher: Greenwillow Books, 2012

Synopsis

Some of the animals in this book are real. They include:

• the hippopotamus (she's missing)
• the elephant (he's artistically talented)
• the octopus (it's great at multitasking).

Others may not be quite so real. These include:

• the wiguana (very hairy, for a lizard)
• the halibutterfly (there's something fishy about it)
• the gludu (quite clingy).

In the tradition of Jack Prelutsky's classic poetry collections The New Kid on the Block, It's Raining Pigs & Noodles, and A Pizza the Size of the Sun, here is a book packed with more than 100 funny poems and silly pictures. Most of the poems are about animals—some are big and some are small, some have unusual interests, and some are just plain unusual.

About this title

About the Author:

Jack Prelutsky is the best-selling author of more than fifty books of poetry, including The New Kid on the Block, illustrated by James Stevenson, and Stardines Swim High Across the Sky, illustrated by Carin Berger. Jack Prelutsky lives in Washington State.

Jackie Urbanovic is the New York Times best-selling author and illustrator of Duck at the Door, Duck Soup, and Duck and Cover, as well as the illustrator of If You're Hoppy, by April Pulley Sayre. She lives in Silver Spring, Maryland.

From Booklist:

Prelutsky presents more than 100 humorous poems in loose groupings, brought to buoyant life by Urbanovic’s lively pen-and-ink gestures. Though uniformly and squarely aimed at the elementary-school funny bone, the poems represent a wide variety of form and style. Some, like “The Pelicantaloupes” and “The Appleopards,” imagine an unlikely cross between an animal and a fruit and come accompanied by pronunciation assistance. Others find silliness in everyday circumstance, while most veer toward the hilarious and totally unexpected (like “Shopping at a Dragon Store”). A few haiku find their way in, as do the odd limerick and concrete poem. Many share a common meter (think “Miss Lucy had a steamboat”), making them particularly well suited to be read, or chanted, aloud. Urbanovic’s cartoony black-and-white line drawings enjoy ample real estate, spreading across pages to reinforce the poetic puns. It’s easy to imagine this one being passed around the cafeteria or safely stored in a backpack. Grades 2-4. --Thom Barthelmess

About this edition

• Publisher: Greenwillow Books
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0062014587
• ISBN 13: 9780062014580
• Binding: Library Binding
• Number of pages: 144
• Illustrator: Urbanovic Jackie