Last year, when my favorite radio station decided to play nothing but
Christmas music for the month of December, I discovered a lovely little
novelty number entitled I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas. I've
always had a soft spot for hippos, so I could sympathize with the
girl's plight, and besides, the song was just so darn catchy. It was
sung by Gayla Peevey, who had a remarkably developed voice for a
ten-year-old. I at first assumed it was a grown woman trying to sound
little girl-ish, but she really was a little girl back in 1953, and
thanks to her enthusiastic performance of John Rox's jingle, the
Oklahoma City Zoo soon was able to buy its first hippopotamus, Matilda.
As an homage to my obsession with the song, I bought myself a hippo at Build-a-Bear
when it had its grand opening here in Erie in September. Like Matilda,
my hippo is female; I named her Minerva, after one of my favorite Hogwarts
professors, and garbed her in a purple witch's outfit to match her
fuzzy fur. Granted, hippos don't really have fur, and they're not really
purple, either. But a massive purple hippo is just what I found on the
front cover of I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas, the picture book adaptation illustrated by Bruce Whatley.
The book, published in 2005, features a little girl in pink pajamas
complete with footies; they remind me of Ralphie's get-up in A Christmas Story,
sans the bunny accoutrements, and she seems much more content with her
clothing than he did. She has a wide, gleaming grin and sparkling eyes,
and her hair is a lustrous Ginny Weasley shade of red.
The
hippo is huge, and his smile is even bigger. He seems absolutely
thrilled to be in her living room on Christmas morning, apparently
having decided that it was worth all the trouble of Santa shoving him
through the door and wrapping him in striped paper just to see the
delight on his new caretaker's face. It's hard to say which of them is
more excited; in one illustration, the hippo is reflected in the joyful
girl's indigo eyes, while another shows the ecstatic hippo's brown eyes
reflecting the girl.
The illustrations are marvelous,
depicting such amusements as her mopping his head in the garage to get
him squeaky clean and riding with Santa in a hippo-drawn sleigh. My
favorite picture, however, which made me laugh out loud when I saw it,
is the first one in which we see the girl and the hippo together. She
stares in open-mouthed ardor, while he stretches out his pudgy arms for a
hearty hug. Meanwhile, Dad blinks up at the hippo in half-awake
confusion while Mom claps a hand over her forehead in a gesture that
indicates Santa may have a rather indignant letter headed his way.
The text of the book is basically the song lyrics, though for some
reason the verses begin "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas, a
hippopotamus is all I want," while in the song it's "I want a
hippopotamus for Christmas, only a hippopotamus will do." I'm not sure
why the change was made; maybe "only a hippopotamus will do" seemed too
repetitive, since that is the way the line reads during the chorus. At
any rate, a recording is, most unfortunately, not included - though
sheet music is - so kids who haven't heard the song won't have Peevey's
rendition as a basis for comparison.
Hippo lovers, or anyone
who's ever craved an unusual gift come Christmas, will likely get kick
out of this fun little book. If only Santa would bring me a hippo too!
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