THE TURTLE AND THE HIPPOPOTAMUS

The creators of The Bird, the Monkey and the Snake in the Jungle (1999) offer another engaging animal tale told with rebuses, this one featuring a small turtle trying to find a way to cross a river without swimming past a huge blue hippo. The rebuses, most of them simply drawn stick figures, are “translated” at the bottom of each spread on which they appear, and superimposed, along with connecting words, on Bogacki’s gently brushed, cottony-looking outdoor scenes. Ignoring the advice of friends, Turtle tries to fly across on a kite, bounce over by jumping on an old tire, and blow across like dandelion fluff. At last, trying to swing across on a rope, Turtle lands right on Hippo, who turns out to be friendlier that his fearsome appearance suggests, and asks her with puzzlement why she didn’t just swim across. The two are last seen munching companionably among the reeds on the river’s far side. Because lines of text are shaped and placed on the page to suggest proper pacing and expression, and because young listeners will be eager to identify each rebus aloud, this quiet, rhythmic tale makes a perfect choice for shared reading. (Picture book. 4-7)