The Turtle and the Hippopotamus

The turtle lives by the side of a stream that has a large hippo living in it. But all the food is soon gone from the turtle's side of the stream. He can see some nice food growing on the other side of the stream, but he's afraid of crossing the stream because of the hippo. He talks to some birds and ants to try to figure out how to cross the stream without having to deal with the hippo. They all tell him to swim, but he's still afraid. Finally, he tries swinging across the stream on a vine like a monkey, but he falls into the stream. To his surprise, the hippo rescues him and helps him across. On each page, most of the content nouns are replaced with icons, so that non-readers can help "read" the story. The book has about 500 words.

The combination of child-friendly picture-aided text, soft simple illustrations and a theme of critical thinking for problem solving make this children's book an instant classic!It teaches preschoolers how to be creative, while giving them ownership of the story's characters. Tomek Bogacki's use of color and texture in his illustrations give the book the flavor kids love! What else can you say about a Rebus Book! I only wish this were available in a "Big Book" edition, since it is a perfect choice for preschool story times!