There's a Hippopotamus Under My Bed

by Mike Thaler

Morris the hippopotamus wanders away from the zoo and hides from his pursuers in various unusual places

Genres: Childrens, Animals

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Mike Thaler, born in Los Angeles, started his professional career drawing cartoons for adults. A children's book editor saw one of his cartoon stories in a national magazine and encouraged Mike to try writing for children. His first attempt met with success, and "The Magic Boy" was published in 1961.

Mike has produced over 220 published books and is known as “America’s Riddle King.” He has also been called “The Court Jester of Children’s Literature.”

Mike Thaler lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife Patty. He gladly welcomes all invitations to do church and school programs, and other book events.

Mike travels each year throughout the world helping children and teachers create their own stories, riddles, and books. He writes and teaches with creativity, inspiring his audiences with a love of language.

--from the author's website

Reviews

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

another one read to the belly! :)

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

An oldie but I can see how this may have been a classic while it also makes me wonder what was the big thing with hippos not that long ago?

There really isn't much of a story for this particular book as it follows the premise of an animal followed me home but my parent won't let me keep it so what should I do. Instead the reader is introduced to said animal, the boy bonds over it and then when faced with the consequences he does what naturally almost any kid at the time would have done.

Since the text is so simple and easy the book really does rely on the illustrations to tell the story. The coloration is of a weird palette that mainly hinges on yellow, a dark reddish and blue. Although the reader can see the disastrous results for themselves the boy's parents really do seem to be blind to what has happened around them.

Although short and kind of goofy stupid it does make for a fun yet strangely charming read.

[Reanna Holycross · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is very funny which I think children reading it would love! There are lots of illustrations that really bring the story to life. The story is also imaginative and provokes a lot of curiosity in the reader as the story goes along. This book would be great for students to read on their own! There are so many pictures that depict exactly what is going on, which can help students figure out unfamiliar words.

[Jordan Kinser · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was just okay. I liked the emotive illustrations, but the book didn't have much for content and the ending left much to be desired.

[Katharine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a cute book. It's about a boy who is followed by a hippo home. He breaks different parts of the house, gets stuck in the bathtub, and is too big to hide anywhere. Eventually the people from the zoo come to the house and get the hippo back to the zoo where he belongs, but the boy is allowed to visit him everyday after school. It's a imaginative, fun book about a boy finding a friend in an unlikely animal. I think all children would like to have a friend in different types of animals, wether they are big or small.

LE: In small groups, after reading the story, have the children draw a picture of them walking home and show what kind of animal is following them. Ask them why they chose this animal and what they would do with it when they got home.

[Jason Vedder]

Found a sheet from 1980 about reading 50 books for the summer and this was on it.