[.ca] What A Hippopota-Mess (ISBN 1551434024)

Wonderfully entertaining and educational:
My seven year old grandson's reaction to 'Hippopota-mess' was great! Joshua is not normally a book person, being more of a sports guy. When I got the to the part where Sal says she eats little boys, Josh's eyes widened and he said 'oh oh' and sucked in his breath. The picture of Pete yelling with the caption 'no more' really caught his eye and he wanted to know what it said, (he does not like reading on his own) - I told him to read it - he did - and when I read that portion of the story, he tapped my arm and said , "I want to say that", then he yelled out "NO MORE"! The interview really got him thinking - your ability to turn the facts into something kids would understand is great! Usually the number's would go over his head, as they are too high for him to relate too. He was laughing and snorting 'oh my god' to all of the correlations - the cereal, the weight in cars, standing up in the mouth. The information that hippos are one of the most dangerous animals in Africa was one of his favorite parts - he had to repeat it about 3 times with a look of awe. When we got to the word 'burp' he was thrilled to see it in print - and re-read it several times, but not before burping about 8 times first - he showed me his fool-proof deep gurgling from the belly method of burping, (you see the trick is to crank your neck and head back just as you are about to let it rip). Two - thirds of the way through reading the interview - he cocked his head to the side to see me and said, "who knows all of this stuff anyway??"..... this was the same tone as "how does Santa get into our house?". Reading this was so much fun with him - he was so interactive and interested by it! I got such a good laugh. Great job - if a book with few pictures reaches a guy like Joshua and makes him take note of the content and printed words - someone has just performed a miracle; way to go on that Pat Skene and Graham Ross!! :)