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When I Woke Up I Was a Hippopotamus
A little boy transforms into different creatures as his moods change throughout the day, until finally he goes a little too far and discovers his parents have transformed too. Illustrations.
32 pages, Hardcover
First published April 7, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
September 2, 2018
Heyyyy, a rhyming kids book that isn't insufferable! Kafkaesque, imaginative, biting, funny, and the illustrations have enough detail to make you linger on each page. The version I have is a little too creative with fonts, some of which are tricky to read (when I'm reading it, but especially when my kid struggles on certain words), but this is an otherwise more tolerable choice in our kid-lit arsenal.
March 16, 2023
Great for metaphors, talking about pictures, descriptive words
June 19, 2017
It had the potential to be great, but it was annoying when they described typical parenting or instruction from the teacher as "telling the kid off," then the kid would "tell off the kid or parents." That's not something I want my daughter to start doing, so I'm not a fan of this book
August 5, 2011
At least nobody woke up as a cockroach.
September 27, 2011
I *would* really like this book except for the "telling off" of parents and teachers and children. I can't get passed that phrase. It is WAY too rude to use in storytime.
August 7, 2012
A story of a boy with a very active imagination who finds himself being a lot of different things throughout the day (a monster, a hippo, a robot, etc.).
September 11, 2017
The phrase "Tell them off" doesn't translate very well across the Atlantic.
March 16, 2019
Little boys with overactive imaginations. It's been done before. Yet I found myself chuckling at this one as the little boy goes through quite the array of transformations. The over the top illustrations add to the fun. It will be fun to revisit the Hippopotamus when my wee one is a bit older.
October 16, 2019
A little boy and his overactive imagination have quite the day! I'm not a fan of the part where the teacher "Tells him off" and he "tells her off back." But, if I can figure out how to reword that in a manner more appropriate to story time, I will use it as part of our "Letter I" day and talk about imaginations.
April 4, 2024
I adore the wild and energetic illustrations. The rhymes were also goofy and fun. (Maybe they could have used some variation for the phrase “told off”, which came up a lot, but it may have also stood out to me as not being as common in North American English.)
I want to read more books illustrated by Ross Collins!
I want to read more books illustrated by Ross Collins!
August 16, 2017
A cute read with the little ones. There were a few chuckles, and the rambunctious, lively protagonist is a bit like them and loves to pretend. Great illustrations. This wasn't one of the most memorable that we've brought home from the library lately, but it's still sweet.
November 1, 2020
A great story about a young boy who loves to play pretend. Throughout the day, from the moment he wakes up, he's pretends he is different animals and monsters, much to the annoyance of the adult characters.
October 4, 2017
Good ryhme. Great use of repetition. great story introducing hormones and feelings. Good at talking about how you change over time.
September 19, 2018
This is a modern fantasy book appropriate for grades K-2. When I first started to read this book I was very confused. The book doesn’t make much sense until the end but it was a little humorous and fun to read.
September 22, 2014
When I Woke Up I Was A HIPPOPOTAMUS
A small boy wakes up feeling like a hippo and can hardly get out of bed! (like many of us do). We follow him as he fantasises of being different types of creatures during the day. The story starts off with the boy waking up as a hippopotamus and falling straight back to bed. He causes a lot of hassle in the morning, not only does he not want to get up, but he doesn't eat breakfast and mum and dad have to drag him to school. The wild and creative imagination of the child takes us on a journey of what it would be like to be a robot, a statue, a monkey, a monster, a rocket ship and a giant until mum and dad are finally fed up with his antics and when they arrive at his room they are fierce, fire breathing, dragons, who remind him of how nice he can be when he is actually himself.
This book is great for Key Stage 1. The heavily illustrated book brings the story to life and many children and adults alike will be able to relate their mornings and journeys to school to this one. E.g. becoming a statue so mum/dad has to drag you to school, or becoming a rocket ship and zooming home because you can’t wait to play on your new console game. This story can be added to the book corner and used for independent reading, as well as English lessons when learning about metaphors, rhyming words and to always remind children to use their imagination when writing.
A small boy wakes up feeling like a hippo and can hardly get out of bed! (like many of us do). We follow him as he fantasises of being different types of creatures during the day. The story starts off with the boy waking up as a hippopotamus and falling straight back to bed. He causes a lot of hassle in the morning, not only does he not want to get up, but he doesn't eat breakfast and mum and dad have to drag him to school. The wild and creative imagination of the child takes us on a journey of what it would be like to be a robot, a statue, a monkey, a monster, a rocket ship and a giant until mum and dad are finally fed up with his antics and when they arrive at his room they are fierce, fire breathing, dragons, who remind him of how nice he can be when he is actually himself.
This book is great for Key Stage 1. The heavily illustrated book brings the story to life and many children and adults alike will be able to relate their mornings and journeys to school to this one. E.g. becoming a statue so mum/dad has to drag you to school, or becoming a rocket ship and zooming home because you can’t wait to play on your new console game. This story can be added to the book corner and used for independent reading, as well as English lessons when learning about metaphors, rhyming words and to always remind children to use their imagination when writing.
February 21, 2012
When I Woke Up I Was a Hippopotamus, written by Tom MacRae and illustrated by Ross Collins, is the charming story of a little boy who wakes up one morning feeling like a big hippopotamus who can hardly move and just doesn’t want to get out of bed.
As the day goes on, he always seems to be a bit out of step with how he should be feeling in that moment, and each feeling is represented by a different animal or object.
Read the rest of my review at 5 Minutes for Mom.
As the day goes on, he always seems to be a bit out of step with how he should be feeling in that moment, and each feeling is represented by a different animal or object.
Read the rest of my review at 5 Minutes for Mom.
April 11, 2012
At different times of the day, the small boy imagines himself to be a host of different creatures. First thing in the morning he is a sleepy hippo, at breakfast he's a robot, later he's a statue, a monkey, a monster, a rocket, but his noisy giant Is the last straw, and turns his parents into dragons. Finally, when He is himself he has the best time of all.
September 20, 2016
This is a descent story. I would most likely have this in my classroom. The best thing about the story, in my opinion, is the fact that the kid had so much imagination. His imagination could inspire my students to be creative and imagine things as well! The story line wasn't the greatest, but the use of creativity of the boy and the rhyming was great.
October 4, 2016
This is a fun book to keep children on their toes of what possibly the little boy could wake up and be. It shows that your dreams can be so big and encourages you to dream as big as you can imagine. You could do an activity with the children after reading about what they would want to be if they could wake up and be anything.
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November 8, 2011This is a great book to read to kids about being creative and thinking outside of the box. I used this book on an imaging lesson and covered up the pages to encourage kids to become the illustrators and make their own pictures in their heads.
April 7, 2016
A funny, cute story about how everyone can change into something else depending on their moods. Yea, when it's time to go to work I can be a unmoving statue but I can never be a rocket when I leave work. How is that?
February 10, 2015
I LOVED reading this book to my 4 year old! It's perfectly set up to really get into with voices and movement. It was the first book I read to him (as opposed to one of his parents), and it broke the ice PERFECTLY for the change in routine!
April 13, 2011
A funny story about the pitfalls of an over-active imagination...
September 3, 2011
A boy wakes up as a hippopotamus. Throughout the day he turns into a robot, a statue, a monkey, and more. The illustrations were created using watercolor, vinyl color, and pen on watercolor paper.
September 4, 2011
I get the idea of where this book was trying to go but in my opinion not sure it fully got there.
October 25, 2011
This is a fun book and good for imaging. Cover the front of the book and have students describe what they think the pics will look like.
August 10, 2016
Having just read a book on child nutrition, I kept thinking 'this kid needs some healthy foods!" I was thinking it was hi attitude, not his imagination that was the problem. =) Enjoyed it!
February 19, 2012
A little boy with a big imagination pretends to be many different things over the course of his busy day.
June 19, 2012
I really like this book. I can see where someone else may not.
September 26, 2012
A small boy imagines himself as a variety of things depending on how he is feeling throughout the day.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews