THE HICCUPOTAMUS

“There was a hippopotamus / Who hiccupped quite-a-lotamus / And every time he got’emus... / …He’d fall upon his bottomus.” This hippo’s hiccups disturb a yellow elephant, who chases him into a centipede’s construction zone. Elephant and centipede chase poor hippo past a flossing rhino, and everyone gets tangled up in the dental floss. Deciding to be less angry and more the good Samaritans, they give up the chase. “They tried to find a therapy— / Some cure which they could shareapy, / A what or why or whereapy / To stop this long nightmareapy.” The group tries spinning, paper bags, scaring, submersion and vinegar until...a miracle! Hippo’s hiccups are cured...but he seems to have passed them on. Bright, pudgy, round-eyed cartoon illustrations rendered in colored pencil are an apt match for the goofy slapstick of the text. Illustrator Zenz’s first solo outing is Seussian silliness for the storytime set. The final page features cast biographies with humor aimed at grown-up readers. Fun for all. (Picture book. 2-7)