A Hippo in Our Yard

PreS-Gr 1—Sally is flabbergasted to see a hippo in her yard—who wouldn't be? She runs inside to tell her mother, but Mom can't stop reading the newspaper long enough to go see if there really is a hippo outside. When Sally feeds the hippo some lettuce, she notices a tiger in the tree. Running back inside, this time to inform her father, Sally is again ignored as her dad can't look away from his computer screen. Similar results occur when Sally tries convincing her sister Liz and her Nana that there are koalas and zebras outside. It isn't until the phone rings and Sally's mom exclaims, "Everyone stay inside! The zoo animals got out!" that her family realizes that Sally did see the animals in their backyard. Donnelly keeps both the text and the illustrations simple and clear, with Sally's text in red and her family's text in black on crisp white backgrounds. The pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations are charming and childlike, with a sense of drollness about them (although the koalas are not immediately recognizable).