61. I've Lost My Hippopotamus by Jack Prelutsky

illustrated by Jackie Urbanovich
read the book - from Bosler Library
2012 Greenwillow Books
144 pgs.
Kid's Poetry
Discovered and read on 10/10/17
Goodreads rating:  3.89 - 277 ratings
My rating:4

Some of the poems I liked to follow comments, below

My comments:  I was greatly surprised to see this book pass through circulation at the library....I'm very familiar with other Prelutsky books that "look" the same - A Pizza the Size of the Sun, New Kid on the Block, Something Big Has Been Here. - but this was totally a new one to me.  There were lots of poems that take two words (one being an animal) and combining them:  Pelicantaloupes, Crabacus, Asparagoose, and Wiguanas to name a few, where he goes on his usual silly explanations that no one else can get away with.  And there are six haikus!  CAMEL:  I have one large bump,/ Two long, beautiful lashes,/ And a foul temper.  His vocabulary usage, as usual, is superb, introducing what I am sure are many new words to unsuspecting young'uns.  Lots of fun!

Goodreads synopsis: Some of the animals in this book are real. They include:
the hippopotamus (she's missing)
the elephant (he's artistically talented)
the octopus (it's great at multitasking).
          Others may not be quite so real. These include:
the wiguana (very hairy, for a lizard)
the halibutterfly (there's something fishy about it)
the gludu (quite clingy).
          In the tradition of Jack Prelutsky's classic poetry collections The New Kid on the Block, It's Raining Pigs & Noodles, and A Pizza the Size of the Sun, here is a book packed with more than 100 funny poems and silly pictures. Most of the poems are about animals—some are big and some are small, some have unusual interests, and some are just plain unusual.

A handful of haiku: (!!)

Camel

I have one large hump,

Two long, beautiful lashes,

And a foul temper

Frog

All evening I sing.

Happy on a lily pad,

Celebrating spring.

Mole

Tunnel!  I tunnel!

I never see my tunnels,

Yet they comfort me.

Oyster

I’m clearly no gem,

But in my interior

I’m growing a pearl.

Peacock

I am glorious!

My tail has a thousand eyes

For you to admire.

Zebra

Black white black white black.

I am a striped illustion,

A horse in disguise.

Cupcakes

I’m very fond of cupcakes

And love to eat them up,

But I’ve never found a cupcake

That came inside a cup.

I Played a Game of Golf Today

I played a game of golf today –

I’d never played before.

I wasn’t ery good at it

And won’t play anymore.

I shot a sixty-seven,

Which was surely not my goal.

My score was even higher

When I played the second hole.

I’m Gazing through My Telescope

I’m gazing through my telescope

At something in the skies,

Something I could never see

If I just used my eyes,

Something that’s so far away

I wonder haow the light

Can even reach my telescope

Sop I can see the sight.

Somewhere in the universe,

As distant as can be,

I now extraterrestrials

Are looking back at me.

Of course, I can’t detect them,

And in fact, I have no hope,

If they can see me, the must have

A Better telescope.

A Centipede Was Thirsty

A centipede was thirsty,

But to satisfy its need,

It drank too much for it to hold ---

And so the centipede.

My Pencil Will Not Write

My pencil will not write,

My crayons do not draw,

My lantern cannot light,

My saws refuse to saw.

My toothbrush is too soft,

My football can’t hold air,

My kit won’t stay aloft,

I’ve lost my underwear.

My songbird has no song,

My you-you doesn’t work,

My calendar is wrong,

My clock has gone berserk.

My TV won’t turn on,

My hat falls off my head,

My cat’s meow is gone ---

I’m better off in bed.

My Snake Can Do Arithmetic

My snake can do arithmetic,

My snake is far from dumb,

My snake can take two numbers

And come up with a sum.

She can’t subtract, which makes her sad,

And two things make her sadder . . .

She can’t divide or multiply ---

My snake is just an adder.

POETRY PICTURE BOOK - In Aunt Giraffe's Green Garden by Jack Prelutsky

Illustrated by Petra Matthers

2007, Greenwillow Books

64 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 3.50

My rating: 3

Endpapers: rusty red

Title Page: double page, with the title (etc) on the LEFT page - nice to model that anything goes

Illustrations: borders around each page, pages numbered

Here's a poem I'd model  to show that even silly poems need to make sense:

The Poodles Ate Oodles of Noodles

The poodles ate oodles of noodles,

the setters ate lettuce on rye.

A small Pekingese

at nothing but peas,

and a greyhound ran off with the pie.

Here's one that plays with colors:

In Amarillo, Texas

In Amarillo, Texas,

upon a yellow chair,

complete with yellow pillow,

sat little Willa Ware.

She at a yellow apple,

she ate a yellow pear,

while wearing yellow flowers

atop her yellow hair.

And of course I must include one that features Maine - and uses the wonderful word galoshes: (and gives kids the ridiculous notion that you can wander the beach and find a LOBSTER!!!! ...oh my, Mr. Prelutsky....)

There's a Lady in Galoshes

There's a lady in galoshes,

and her name is Jolly Jane.

How she loves to look for lobsters

on the rocky coast of Maine.

She can find them by the dozen

in the sun and wind and rain.

She's the queen of lobster ladies,

and her name is Jolly Jane.

T

My comments:  I love Prelutsky, but this isn't one of my favorites.  The illustrations are cool, but the poems are pretty young - too young, in most cases, for me to use with fourth graders.

Goodreads:  In this companion to The Frogs Wore Red Suspenders, a gardening giraffe, a contented bluebird, and poodles eating oodles of noodles are featured in a collection of 28 poems from the award-winning team of Prelutsky and Mathers. Full color.