15th February Hippopotamus Day

If you look at my Pinterest page for hippos you will see that hippos are quite a phenomenon in the world of children's books. They feature not only in traditional nonfiction books, but they are the main characters in narrative nonfiction which relate the lives of real-life hippos such as Fiona and Mzee. They are the stars of great novels such as Morris Lurie's The Twenty-Seventh Annual Hippopotamus Race, they feature in folktales such as those about a tug of war between and elephant and a hippo, they become the brunt of humour and even best friends when you see the series of books Duck and Hippo by Jonathan London and Andrew Joyner or those by Jeff Mack about  Hippo and Rabbit.

Find out about real hippos first:

• The Truth About Hippos by Maxwell Eaton III

• Hippos are Huge!  by Jonathan London

Learn about famous hippos like Fiona and Mzee:

Fiona is a hippopotamus that was born six years ago at the Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio. She was born prematurely and is famous for surviving. She now has quite a lot of books written about her.

• Saving Fiona  by Thane Maynard

• Fiona the Hippo  by Richard Cowdery

Owen is a baby hippo who was rescued after the  December 2004 tsunami. Villagers in Kenya worked tirelessly to rescue him and he became the best friend of a 130 year old tortoise named Mzee.

•  Owen and Mzee by Isabella Hatkoff

• Mama and Owen  by Marion Dane Bauer

• Mama by Jeanette Winter

Read folktales:

• Hot Hippo  by Mwenye Hadithi

• The Great Tug of War  by Beverley Naidoo

• Clever Tortoise  by Francesca Martin

• Tug of War  by Naomi Howarth

Then have fun reading stories such as these:

• There's a Hippo on the Roof Eating Cake  by Hazel Edwards and deborah Niland

• Happy Hippo  by Charles Santoso

• The First Hippo on the Moon by David Walliams and Tony Ross

• Zippo the Super Hippo  by Kes Gray and Nikki Dyson

• Hilda Must Be Dancing  by Karma Wilson and Suzanne Watts

• The Twenty-Seventh Annual African Hippopotamus race  by Morris Lurie

They even feature in art books. There is a small blue hippo, an ancient Egyptian relic named William  at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He has a book about him

• The Little Hippo by Geraldine Elschner

15th February Hippopotamus Day

Coming up is Hippo Day! A great day to celebrate in a library because  -
1. Hippos are in danger, and humans are their biggest enemy. So we need to know more about these 'water horses'.
2. Some of the best 'reads' for children  feature hippos.

One of my all time favourite serial reads with a class is The Twentyseventh Annual African Hippopotamus Race by Morris Lurie. It is such fun and yet at the same time has so much to discuss with students. Can hippos really swim? What should Edward do about Sebastian? What makes Edward a good friend? a good grandchild? a good swimmer and competitor? What does 'gosh' really mean? Great to read before a sports day, swimming carnival, when you want to discuss bullying or even just hippos and Africa.

A wonderful pourquoi story, Hot Hippo  by Mwenye Hadithi and Adrienne Kennaway explains for students why hippos don't actually swim, but spend a large part of their day in the water.

Another book that students love is Hippos are Huge! by Jonathan London and Matthew Trueman. This illustrated information book tells students about just how big and dangerous hippos are.

Hippos have even made it to the realm of 'true animal stories' since the December tsunami that swept baby hippo, Owen into the sea. Kenyan villagers worked to rescue Owen and he has now become best friend with Mzee, an elderly giant tortoise. Many books feature these two. See Owen and Mzee and its sequel by Isabella Hatkoff et al; A Mama for Owen by Marion Dane Bauer and Mama by Jeanette Winter.

Hippos can also be something that authors use for humour. Look at the popularity of the very long lasting series that started with There's a Hippopotamus on our Roof Eating Cake by Hazel Edwards and Deborah Niland. And more recently, Hippospotamus by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross,  The Hippo-not-amus  by Tony and Jan Payne and Hippobottymus by Steve Smallman and Ada Grey.

And maybe because hippos can be cantankerous they often feature in children's books about feelings and behaviour. See  Greedy Grumpy Hippo; Big Bully Hippo; Hurty Feelings; and  The Hippo who was Happy. 

For even more hippo books for your display, look at these.

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