SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
SLJ Blog Network +
  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About/Contact
  • Fusenews
  • Reviews
  • Librarian Previews
  • Best Books
    • Top 100
    • Best Books of 2022
    • Best Books of 2021
    • Best Books of 2020
    • Best Books of 2019
    • Best Books of 2018
    • Best Books of 2017
    • Best Books of 2016
    • Best Books of 2015
    • Best Books of 2014
    • Best Books of 2013
  • Fuse 8 n’ Kate
  • Videos
  • Press Release Fun

September 8, 2009 by Betsy Bird

They Call it the Hiccupotamus, It’s Lyrics Are Bottomless…

September 8, 2009 by Betsy Bird   15 comments

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 . . . .

SCROLL TO KEEP READING THIS POST

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

The Hiccupotamus
By Aaron Zenz
Pinwheel Books (a division of Marshall Cavendish)
$12.99
ISBN: 978-0761456223
Ages 4-8
On shelves September 20, 2009

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

SHARE:

Read or Leave Comments

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.

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

March 2023

Announcing the Stinetinglers Winner! The Kettle's Dark Secret by Clara J.

by Betsy Bird

March 2023

Bologna Presentations: IBBY Doing the Good Work That Needs to Be Done, Worldwide

by Betsy Bird

February 2023

Sydney Taylor Book Blog Award Tour Interview: Featuring Mari Lowe of Aviva Vs. the Dybbuk!

by Betsy Bird

January 2023

The Top Ten Most Disappointing Edibles and Potables of Children's Literature

by Betsy Bird

January 2023

Announcing the 2023 Newbery/Caldecott/YMA Pre-Game Show!

by Betsy Bird

ADVERTISEMENT

SLJ Blog Network

100 Scope Notes

One Star Review, Guess Who? (#184)

by Travis Jonker

A Fuse #8 Production

Announcing the 2022 Winners of the Annual Blueberry Literary Award!

by Betsy Bird

Good Comics for Kids

Review: Nat the Cat Takes a Nap

by Esther Keller

Heavy Medal

March suggestions: early Mock Newbery possibilities

by Emily Mroczek-Bayci

Teen Librarian Toolbox

Here Be Monsters: On Horror, Catharsis, and Uneasy Truces with Yourself, a guest post by author Rebecca Mahoney

by Karen Jensen, MLS

The Classroom Bookshelf

The Classroom Bookshelf is Moving

by Erika Thulin Dawes

The Yarn

Newbery Medalist Amina Luqman-Dawson visits The Yarn

by Colby Sharp

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Articles on SLJ

Truth Teller, A. S. King | The Year in SLJ Covers

Author Jim Murphy Has Died; Kaepernick, Scholastic Publishing Graphic Memoir; and More | News Bites

Carole Lindstrom Turns Family History into a Song of Hope

Authors Visits Dwindle Amid Censorship Campaigns

Ashley Bryan, Celebrated Author and Illustrator, Dies at age 98

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.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Heidi Noel says

    September 8, 2009 at 10:16 am

    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

  2. Laura says

    September 8, 2009 at 10:24 am

    Thanks for that great review. I’ll definitely check it out…two kids have birthdays this month.

  3. Meg says

    September 8, 2009 at 1:34 pm

    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!

  4. dag888888 says

    September 8, 2009 at 3:03 pm

    Where have I been, haven’t heard of Hiccupotamus… too cute and enjoyable!

  5. Candi Criddle says

    September 8, 2009 at 5:27 pm

    What a great blog, thanks for the review. It looks like quite a book.

  6. no ordinary fella says

    September 8, 2009 at 9:11 pm

    Thanks Fuse VIII! You are Queen of the Kidlitosphere…
    – AZ

  7. Michelle Henninger says

    September 9, 2009 at 5:05 pm

    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!

  8. Chris Kennett says

    September 10, 2009 at 11:04 pm

    Great Book and great review. Kudos for the Flight of the Conchords ref too 🙂

  9. Honey Mommy says

    September 11, 2009 at 9:32 pm

    Looks like a really fun book!

  10. Wendy Jones says

    September 12, 2009 at 8:43 am

    Thanks for the review.

  11. MJ says

    September 13, 2009 at 5:56 pm

    What a fun book. I need to add it to my kindergarten library!

    mj.coward[at]gmail.com

  12. Kristina says

    September 15, 2009 at 12:48 pm

    I love the rhyming!! I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy of this one!

  13. Brooke says

    September 17, 2009 at 10:45 am

    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

  14. Swati says

    September 20, 2009 at 4:05 am

    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.

  15. Wilson says

    September 20, 2009 at 4:12 pm

    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.

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

  • External Links

    • A Fuse #8 Production Reviews
  • Follow This Blog

    Enter your email address below to receive notifications of new blog posts by email.

    This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

    This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

    Primary Sidebar

    • News & Features
    • Reviews+
    • Technology
    • School Libraries
    • Public Libraries
    • Age Level
    • Ideas
    • Blogs
    • Classroom
    • Diversity
    • People
    • Job Zone

    Reviews+

    • Book Lists
    • Best Books
    • Media
    • Reference
    • Series Made Simple
    • Tech
    • Review for SLJ
    • Review Submissions

    SLJ Blog Network

    • 100 Scope Notes
    • A Fuse #8 Production
    • Good Comics for Kids
    • Heavy Medal
    • Neverending Search
    • Teen Librarian Toolbox
    • The Classroom Bookshelf
    • The Yarn

    Resources

    • 2022 Youth Media Awards
    • The Newbery at 100: SLJ Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Award
    • Special Report | School Libraries 2021
    • Summer Reading 2021
    • Series Made Simple Spring 2021
    • SLJ Diverse Books Survey
    • Summer Programming Survey
    • Research
    • White Papers / Case Studies
    • School Librarian of the Year
    • Mathical Book Prize Collection Development Awards
    • Librarian/Teacher Collaboration Award

    Events & PD

    • In-Person Events
    • Online Courses
    • Virtual Events
    • Webcasts
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Subscribe
    • Media Inquiries
    • Newsletter Sign Up
    • Content Submissions
    • Data Privacy
    • Terms of Use
    • Terms of Sale
    • FAQs
    • Diversity Policy
    • Careers at MSI


    COPYRIGHT © 2023


    COPYRIGHT © 2023