They Call it the Hiccupotamus, It’s Lyrics Are Bottomless…
It is fair to say that I’ve never done this sort of thing before, but Aaron Zenz is no ordinary fella. Back in the day around (oh my) May 19, 2006 I had me a new little blog called A Fuse #8 Production. I’d started it in February on a whim and for fun I began to place my reviews (previously viewable only on Amazon) on the site. Zenz contacted me early on and asked if I’d take a gander at his book, The Hiccupotamus. It was coming out with a very small publisher, but there was something to it. It was nice looking. Nicer than the average fare, so I took a gamble and said I’d give it a gander. Not only was it nice, but it held together beautifully. I reviewed it on the spot.
Flash forward a couple of years and the book is getting a new lease on life. Marshall Cavendish is bringing out the book as part of their Pinwheel Books line (described as "a new line of picture books that showcases our high standard of publishing but at an affordable price point") having pried it at last from what I assume must have been Dogs In Hats Children’s Publishing’s cold dead hands. And Mr. Zenz wondered if I’d be a stop on his new Book Tour for the title. So today I am pleased to present A Fuse #8 Classic Review (now with added links and pics) for your diversion and entertainment . . . .
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For the sake of full-disclosure I would like to say how it was that I came across, Hiccupotamus. One day a bright and shiny package arrived at my workplace. Inside was an autographed copy of this book with a long hand-written note complimenting my blog and calling me the Ain’t It Cool News site for kids books. I admit, I was more than a little flattered, but I do have some pride. After all, you can’t trust a reviewer who gets free goodies and then gives them a free pass review-wise. Holding up Hiccupotamus I decided there and then to be ruthless in my reviewing. Cruel, perhaps. Intense in my scrutiny of…. Awwwwww. Look at the cute little hippo Mr. Zenz drew at the bottom of his letter for me. Look at the cute little words. Look at the funny little book. Fine, fine. I’m a sellout. But in all honesty, allow me to say that if Hiccupotamus was not as good as the following review states it to be, I would not have written a review of it at all. You’ve won this round, Zenz! To the rest of your authors out there, let’s not make this a precedent, kay? I will only review your books if they are honestly good and particularly well-written. Hiccupotamus is a merely fluke of small-press delightfulness.
There is only one sure-fire way to get rid of the hiccups. You take a glass of water, you put a terry cloth towel over the top, and then you drink the water through the towel as slowly as possible. So it was with some sadness that I saw that Hiccupotamus (say THAT five times fast) did not contain that particular cure. Oh, it contained plenty more, often in twisted array of combinations. The product of a small time press (Dogs In Hats Children’s Publishing, anyone?), this is one of those rather enjoyable picture books that defy the notion that a publishing house must be grand and grotesque to produce anything good. Colorful, deeply amusing (both visually and in the text), and more fun than it truly deserves to be, Hiccupotamus won me over in spite of myself. I don’t usually go for picture books of this stripe, but it’s hard to resist the sheer charm that makes up this pretty little book.
In rhyming verse we learn of the dire fate of an adorable purple hippopotamus. He got the hiccups, “quite-a-lotamus”. At first he doesn’t do much about the fact. Unfortunately, that means startling other creatures around and about him. An angry elephant starts chasing him once he disturbs her cake and cupcake dining. She’s joined soon thereafter by a “centipede pouring new cementipede” and even by a rhinoceros. “… And that was the last strawcerous”. Hiccup cures are employed, but they’re doubled up for maximum 
effectiveness. This means, “They acquired an aquarium / And flashed him something scaryum”. In the end, the hiccups are gone but seemingly have transferred to the elephant, centipede, and rhino instead. The last image we have in the book is of a revenge-minded hippo with a book entitled, “FIX HICS” clutched tightly in his hot little hands.
By and large, I try to avoid picture books that look cartoonish. Zenz, however, has done especially well with this form of colored pencil illustration. His hippo is a rounded benign little fellow, all chubby cheeks and worried eyes. It’s fun to watch what Zenz does with the background colors of this book as well. Sometimes the sky is a lemon yellow with orange trees shedding leaves all about. Other times it’s a light purple-pink sky with hot-pink trees instead. Fans of earth tones, beware. Zenz has a whole heaping palette of bright and cheery colors at his disposal and he’s not afraid to employ them. His characters and settings are also beautifully shaded, giving otherwise cartoony images a warm rounded glow.
Not only do I tend to avoid books with cartoon-like imagery, I DEFINITELY avoid picture books that try to rhyme. Too often an author has only the vaguest sense of how to make any given line scan. Zenz, however, has considered the matter and found a form that fits him to a tee. Here’s a typical four line stanza, “They tried to find a therapy / Some cure which they could shareapy / A what or why or whereapy / To stop this long nightmareapy”. I can hear overly conscientious parents lamenting the creation of new words like “nightmareapy”. To them I blow a great big raspberry. I LIKE what Zenz is doing here. Yeah, okay. Fine. It’s not Ogden Nash. What it is instead is a lot of fun and a particularly good readaloud. I don’t tend to say this very often, but if you wanted to read this book to a large group of second graders, you could do so with the greatest of ease. It just rolls off the tongue.
I’m sure that there are people out there that could come up with multiple picture books dealing with an onslaught of the hiccups. For me, the only one that came to mind after reading Hiccupotamus was Skeleton Hiccups by Margery Cuyler. The two books would actually pair together rather well, it now occurs to me. Neither one makes any use of my aforementioned sure-fire cure for hiccups, but that’s okay. The overwhelming cheeriness of Hiccupotamus will win over even the most skeptical of parents (on a second reading, at the very least). Fun, frolicsome, and a definitely original work. Worth locating.
On shelves September 20, 2009.
Other Blog Reviews: Kids Lit
Podcast Reviews: Just One More Book
And here are the other stops on ye olde blog tour!
M Sept 7: Bookie Woogie (www.bookiewoogie.blogspot.com)
T Sept 8: Fuse #8 (www.schoollibraryjournal.com/fuse8)
W Sept 9: 5 Minutes for Books (www.5minutesforbooks.com)
Th Sept 10: Mother Reader (www.motherreader.com)
F Sept 11: Reading to Know (www.readingtoknow.com)
S Sept 12: Book Scoops (www.bookscoops.com)
Sn Sept 13: Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast (www.blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings)
M Sept 14: Jumping the Candlestick (jumpingthecandlestick.blogspot.com)
T Sept 15: Thing 1 and Thing 2 (www.coreyschwartz.blogspot.com)
Quite the cool line-up.
Filed under: Uncategorized
About Betsy Bird
Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.
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I have been looking for this book for a while. It was one of the most requested read-a-louds for my preschool a few years ago. Almost each time I read it it was a tongue twister. A must have for children’s library
Thanks for that great review. I’ll definitely check it out…two kids have birthdays this month.
Thanks for passing on the word about this delightful book. My two-and-half-year-old daughter wakes up each morning exclaiming: “Read Hiccupotamus!” And the pictures hold her attention longer than most picture books. It really is a treasure!
Where have I been, haven’t heard of Hiccupotamus… too cute and enjoyable!
What a great blog, thanks for the review. It looks like quite a book.
Thanks Fuse VIII! You are Queen of the Kidlitosphere…
– AZ
Hiccupotamus is such a fun book! My kids love it, and the Chicken Nugget Lemon Tooty kids! It’s great that it’s being re-released!
Great Book and great review. Kudos for the Flight of the Conchords ref too 🙂
Looks like a really fun book!
Thanks for the review.
What a fun book. I need to add it to my kindergarten library!
mj.coward[at]gmail.com
I love the rhyming!! I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy of this one!
OH I already love Hiccupotamus but thank you so much for mentioning Skeleton Hiccups.. I jumped over and checked it out and I know Wee Man would love it.. He’s all into skeletons and stuff right now (more so since it’s almost All Hallows Eve).. weeshenanigans (at) gmail (dot) com
I am diligently following the solemn pilgrimage route starting Bookie-Woogie, so allow me to thank you for the other book which I hadn’t known about.
My oldest,15 years, daughter use to read this to my then 16 month old daughter. My youngest would scream with glee when my oldest would pick it up. My oldest daughter passed away in an auto vs. semi truck accident two years ago. Now, I have assume the role of reader to my youngest and it is something I plan on doing till she won’t let me anymore.
Thanks for the review.