Chapitre thématique

Éveiller son esprit scientifique

Pistes d'exploration

Écrire et créer à son tour

Write your own fact sheet about an animal. Choose an animal, research interesting facts about it, then create a two-page spread with facts, humorous comments, speech bubbles and explanatory sidebars in the style of Maxwell Eaton III.

S'informer

Before you read the book, read aloud the introduction on the front jacket flap to the students. Together, complete a KWL graphic organizer (Know, Want to know, Learned) with facts about the hippopotamus. Add to the chart as you read the book.

Explore other books in “The Truth About Your Favorite Animal” series by the same author. Notice the techniques the author uses to transmit information and share interesting facts about animals (humour, speech bubbles, sidebars, comparisons, etc.)

Regrouper livres et produits culturels

This information-based text presents facts in an interesting and entertaining way. According to Melissa Stewart in The Five Kinds of Nonfiction:Enriching Reading and Writing Instruction with Children’s Books (Stenhouse Publishers, 2021) there are five kinds of non-fiction: browsable, active, traditional, expository literature and narrative. An overview can be found here: https://www.melissa-stewart.com/img2018/pdfs/5_Kinds_of_Nonfiction_SLJ_May_2018.pdf Discuss these different categories with your students and decide which category this book belongs to and why.

Mots-clés

Humour , Picture book , animal adaptations , facts , hippopotamus , layout , natural history

Commentaire descriptif

Facts and jokes are jammed into this picture book about hippos, incorporating a sweet storyline about a lost baby pygmy hippo and the little girl who helps find its mama, with vibrant, cartoon-like illustrations. “A hippo can open its mouth wide! If this book was a hippo mouth, it could open almost all the way. If it was a human mouth, you couldn’t even read it. ‘You’d miss all my jokes.’” Using a sublime blend of truth and silliness, this book conveys key facts about common hippos, pygmy hippos and their endangerment: “Common hippos are threatened by hunting. ‘I don’t like the sound of that!’ And pygmy hippos are losing their quiet forests. ‘Oh, come on!’” The structure employs a factual narrative (“Hippos are dangerous animals. And they do not like to be bothered”), supplemented by cartoon-signage, to encourage access to information: “No visitors, please” “Toilet-plunger sized teeth!” Meanwhile, a storyline emerges through speech-bubble dialogue, as a little girl and a wise-cracking bird help a lost pygmy hippo find its mother: “Has anyone seen this calf’s mom?” a common hippo calls out, among a pile-up of snoozing companions. The baby adds helpfully, “She has smooth gray skin.” (A sign sticking out from the water reads: “a group of hippos is sometimes called a bloat.”) Colourful cartoon-like images are rich with expression and slapstick humour. One underwater image shows a hippo (“Hippos can’t actually swim”), overturned on its bicycle as another stands by, looking askance. Water-lily roots and bubbles traverse the depths. A passing fish looks concerned. (“Or ride a bike.”) A savannah scene shows the massive rear-end of a common hippo. (“When a hippo goes to the bathroom, it flicks its tail back and forth, splattering everything that comes out!”). Brown splotches cover the grass, the rocks and the grossed-out little girl: “What a fun fact,” she grimaces. The bird is safely perched on the hippo’s rump (“That’s why I stand up here”), while a poop-drenched sign reads, “they may do this to mark trails or show dominance.” Final spreads urge readers to learn more and spread the word. (“Because hippos are incredible animals. And terrible bikers. Try pedaling backward.”) Illustrated back material in a “Hippo File” depicts the animal’s territory on a map of Africa, provides more hippo facts and recommends further reading.