I've Lost My Hippopotamus (2012) - Plot & Excerpts
I'm not typically a huge fan of poetry but as a kid I loved the silly poems of Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky. Reading this one as an adult, I enjoyed it but didn't love it. My favorite was, naturally, the short simple poem about the bookworm. That being said, I think that the target audience for this poetry collection, early to middle elementary age children, will love it. It's perfectly silly, has great vocabulary expanding potential, and fantastic illustrations. I also appreciated that he included pronunciation guides at the bottom of each poem for his made up words. 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.Subjects Children's poetry, American Humorous poetry, American Animals -- Poetry
What do You think about I've Lost My Hippopotamus (2012)?
There are some gems and there are some duds. But kids will love having a new volume of Prelutsky.
—suekb
Entertaining little poems, but a bit overkill. More of the same....
—alanyiu277
