Hippo! No, Rhino [Hardcover]

Jeff Newman (Author)

Book Description

Grade Level: P and up

When a careless worker places the wrong sign near a rhinoceros's cage, zoo visitors continually mistake the frustrated rhino for a hippopotamus, until a young boy comes along who can help.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 2–In a simple scenario, a zookeeper places the wrong sign in front of the rhino pen. Rhino is flabbergasted at the error and tries a variety of means to correct the offending moniker–Hippo. He even attempts, unsuccessfully, to knock down the sign by using one of the tick birds that perches on his back as a dart. Finally, a young boy acknowledges the problem and quickly fixes it. Newman uses watercolor and gouache, along with pencil, ink, marker, and pastel, to create colorful, graphic-style illustrations. There is little text, and most of the story is delivered through the art. Readers will relate to Rhino's frustration and his inability to effect change. The two tick birds on his back add some emotional interest to the tale as they show empathy for his predicament. Even though the plotline is slight, this simple story requires skill on the part of young readers to construct meaning from the pictures. A clever exercise in promoting visual literacy.–Carol L. MacKay, Forestburg School Library, Alberta, Canada
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About the Author

Jeff Newman grew up in Ashland, MA and attended the Art Institute of Boston. He is the author and illustrator of the picture book Reginald published by Doubleday. He currently lives in Madison, WI.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (July 12, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031615573X
• ISBN-13: 978-0316155731
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 8.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,289,887 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jeff Newman grew up in Ashland, Massachusetts, and attended The Art Institute of Boston. He currently lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 3 1/2 Great Plot and Resolution; Illustrations A MIxed Bag, September 19, 2007

By 

M. Allen Greenbaum (California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hippo! No, Rhino (Hardcover)

The familiar confusion of the hippo and the rhino sets the action for "Hippo, Not Rhino," a clver but mixed bag of verbal and visual treats. A lowly zoo-keeper (not necessarily a union worker, nor a summer intern, as another reviewer surmised), places a "Hippo" sign in front of the Rhino enclosure, and walks off, whistling. (It's not clear whether this is an act of ignorance or mischief, my own assumption is that he simply doesn't know, but doesn't take the time to check either--the surprise conclusion offers more fodder for debate.)

Rhino certainly knows he's a rhino and not a hippo, and looks aghast at the sign. When two pairs of mostly unattractive people (what, for humorous effect? to show that people may look as strange as zoo animals?) walk by and, also ignorant, call the rhino a hippo--the rhino answers angrily. A nearly bald blue-face women wearing a gaudy purple and fruited (garlic?) hat accompanies a green-jacketed elderly man whose pants look like an artichoke. Above them are messy, purposefully ugly splotches of paint, as if their presumably ugly personalities have leak into the air above them. Natually, they get the treatment:

"Hippo" [the woman]
"No, Rhino" [turn the page]
"FIX the SIGN-O!" [a very angry rhino]

I mention the aesthetics of the "pencil, ink, marker, watercolor, gouache, colored pencil, pastel, and cut paper" (from the publisher's information sheet preceeding the book) illustrations because consumers and potential readers may not enjoy Newman's persistant smudgy and garbaged-out illustrations. If you're a Ralph Steadman fan, or you liked Chris Raschka's pictures for Jules Feiffer's "The Hello, Goodbye Window," you're ready for these, but Steadman draws primarily for adults and Raschka's skilled atmospherics mesh well with the story's theme. There's sometimes unappetizing about this effort, as shown by what happens after the Rhino sends the first couple scurrying: After failing to move the sign with his tail, he hurls one of the two birds on his back at the sign. This doesn't work either, and the bird falls--slapstick-like--to the ground.

A second, younger couple arrives, a pleasant young woman, and a young man who might be every father's nightmare. With his green face and fingers (the latter resemble a reptile), and looking like an older "Pigpen" with his dirt kicking around his bell bottoms, he coos "...HIPPOOO." In sequence sure to draw laughs, the Rhino quietly replies, "Nooo...Rhinooo. [turn the page], then yells,"THAT's NOT MINE-O!," motioning towards the offending sign. Finally, one helpful, familiar sort of boy (although he's wearing dayglo yellow-green clothing; there goes my theory of the colors expressing personalities!), who obviosuly paid attention during school, helpfully changes the sign, and the blue rhino finally smiles, the pages look cleaner, the two birds sleep peacefully on top, perhaps even the lion sleeps tonight...

Except, over at another part of the zoo, an annoyed purple hippo (not a rhino) glares at a new sign--left by that same whistling same staffer-- pointing at him unforgiveingly: "Porcupino-O." It's a glorious finishing touch that adds some needed cohesion and good-natured fun.

I imagine that this book that will be admired by adults more than it is liked by small kids. The imagery is clever, but it can be confusing as well (e.g., a through-the-viewfinder picture of the rhino, the profiles of the visitors including a decapitated profile of blue-faced woman's head, the overall artistically skilled but unappealing grundge sensibility). The motivation of the sign misplacer is confusing as well. Perhaps the best element of this story is the one that's not entirely told--what other confusions and person/angry animal confrontations will the misplaced signs leave in their wake. Of course, that's the story you may want to talk about with your young audience, and that stimulation may be the best thing about this imaginative but mixed collection of comedy and humorous melodrama.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars [...] Book Review, May 21, 2010

By 

E. Russo - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hippo! No, Rhino (Hardcover)

Hippo! No, Rhino! by Jeff Newman is a witty tale of the frustration undergone by Rhino when a zookeeper puts up the wrong sign. Instead of putting up a sign that says "Rhino", the zookeeper puts up a "Hippo" sign. Everyone who goes over to see Rhino thinks he's a Hippo. Rhino becomes very frustrated with the visitors always thinking he's a Hippo but one day, a little boy comes by and knows that Rhino is a Rhino and this makes him feel so much better.

In spite of the grief caused by the first mistake, the zoo keeper doesn't learn his lesson.

Reading this book with your child is a fun way to open discussion about the zoo and the differences between a rhino and a hippo. Being that it has few words and moves quickly, this book would make a wonderful addition to the library of a child who is just learning to read.

- Elaine Russo, BookBoo

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Work of Art!, November 9, 2006

By 

J. Wolfe "designer0314" (Milwaukee, WI United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hippo! No, Rhino (Hardcover)

This is a beautiful picture book, richly illustrated by Newman, who lets his artwork tell the story of a rhino suffering from mistaken identity. Newman's colorful and expressive characters are not only fun, they guide the reader smoothly through his touching tale, allowing the reader to sympathize with poor rhino and cheer for the little hero who may help him. Add this book to your child's library and it will remain a favorite -- a perfect example of how art (and just a handful of words) is used to express feelings and experiences.