The Hippo-NOT-amus by Tony and Jan Payne

The Hippo-NOT-amus written by Tony and Jan Payne and illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees, is a fun book about a little hippo that is tired of being a hippo and wanders around the area near his home meeting new creatures and trying to decide what he wants to be.  First he comes upon a rhino and makes himself some horns to wear so that he can be a rhino, and so on.  With each new creature he meets he adds a new part to himself and a new part to his creature name, so that he ends up calling himself a “hippo-gir-ele-bat-onoceroses".

Anna got a big kick out of this book.  She loved trying to guess what the hippo was going to use to make the new parts and also what was going to be added to the name.

I couldn't find any information about the author of this book but Guy Parker-Rees' website is great!  He has illustrated a number of books and we will be watching for more illustrated by him.

Reading the book reminded me of the Switcheroozoo website I'd seen recently.  On the website you can create new creatures by using different parts of creatures.  On the Switcheroozoo Hall of Names page you can see the funny names, and pictures, of creatures that different people have created on the site.  This would be a fun site to play with after reading the book and it could lead into some science learning as you learn about the real animals that make up the pretend animals and about the habitat they live in.

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