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The cover is brightly coloured and features a pinky coloured hippo character on a bluey/green/yellowy background who is walking on stilts and has bananas tied to each of his legs. Confused? All is revealed in the story.
The story centres around Portly a young hippopotamus who is bored ... Read review
Portly is a young hippopotamus who isn't sure he wants to be one forever. In fact, he's ... more
quite sure that he's more suited to being some other creature entirely. And so, after speaking to Mum and Dad about things, he sets out to find his true calling in life.
Advantages: A lovely book that can be read aloud or independently. Disadvantages: None
...first published in 2003 but the paperback version appeared in 2004. I came across this book in the local library as it was on display and I thought my grandchildren would enjoy the story - I was attracted to it by the smiling hippo. I have since bought my own copy as they grandchildren love the story so much.
Publisher - Gullane Childrens book Authors - Tony and Jan Payne Illustrator - Guy Parker - Rees ISBN - ... ...- £4.99
The cover is brightly coloured and features a pinky coloured hippo character on a bluey/green/yellowy background who is walking on stilts and has bananas tied to each of his legs. Confused? All is revealed in the story.
The story centres around Portly a young hippopotamus who is bored standing in water up to his eyes and eating grass, so one day he decides that he wants to be something else and sets off to observe ... more
This book was first published in 2003 but the paperback version appeared in 2004. I came across this book in the local library as it was on display and I thought my grandchildren would enjoy the story - I was attracted to it by the smiling hippo. I have since bought my own copy as they grandchildren love the story so much.
Publisher - Gullane Childrens book Authors - Tony and Jan Payne Illustrator - Guy Parker - Rees ISBN - Hardback 1-88233-447-1 Paperback 1-86233-514-1 RRP - £4.99
The cover is brightly coloured and features a pinky coloured hippo character on a bluey/green/yellowy background who is walking on stilts and has bananas tied to each of his legs. Confused? All is revealed in the story.
The story centres around Portly a young hippopotamus who is bored standing in water up to his eyes and eating grass, so one day he decides that he wants to be something else and sets off to observe other animals. He first of all sees a rhinoceros and thinks the horns they have would be very useful so he makes himself some horns out of wood. He then ties them to his nose but then he can’t see and they slide around his face. He next meets a bat who is hanging upside down. Portly thinks that it would be fun to hang upside down so uses bananas to make hooks for his feet so he could hang upside down like the bat. Of course, he is too heavy and ends up falling down. Portly then meets an elephant who is squirting water from his trunk and again Portly tries to make a trunk out of vine and uses big leaves to make elephant like ears. Because of all the paraphernalia Portly has problems moving but doesn’t give up. He then meets a giraffe and decides to make himself taller by walking on stilts. However, after all this adventure Portly decides to go home as a “hippo-gir-ele-bat-onoceroses".
This is a lovely story that can be read aloud with young children looking at the gorgeous, funny pictures of Portly throughout the book. But it is also, a book that can be read independently by a young reader. The repeating text and the familiarity of different animal characteristics make this book a joy to read. Because it is an amusing tale - I think young readers will want to read it over and over again as it also feeds an active imagination, that could lead to other activities like dressing up and painting and drawing. The repeated use of the phrase “ We’ll see about that” is picked up very easily by young children and may grandchildren use the phrase over and over again as they have picked it up from having this story read to them over and over again as it is clearly a favourite of theirs.
The pictures are bright/cheerful and add to the humour of the story. The saying - “the grass is always greener“……… comes to mind when reading this book so it is also a useful story to be used to demonstrate that you should be happy with who you are. The text is mainly the same throughout the book apart from where the hippo meets the other animals and adds a bit of their mnames to his and then this is in a bigger font and bold type. A lovely humorous book to read aloud or to be read independently.
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