Wonderful Thing about Hiccups by Cece Meng, Janet Pedersen (Illustrator)

From the Publisher

It starts with a case of hiccups during story time at the library. And that leads to an outrageous and hilarious adventure involving a hippo, a little sister, an overturned ice cream cart, a librarian who’s afraid of heights, and a stack of library books that must be returned—on time and in good condition—if the narrator is going to get her very own library card. And nothing could be more wonderful than that!

Brightly colored, energetic illustrations make the most of the slapstick humor in this rollicking readaloud.

Children's Literature

This story may be about hiccups, may be centered in the library, and may feature a little sister, but it is fast paced as one thing after another happens to a young girl who has the hiccups. She discovers that hiccups sound even louder in a place where one should be quiet. Her little sister advises her to hang upside down while drinking water, but that is not allowed in the library. So she goes outside, hangs from a tree, and finds a hippo hiding in the branches. Her attempts to deal with her situation provide many humorous adventures or misadventures, as her sometimes annoying little sister and her humongous hippo sidekick add as to the confusion, all of which is comically illustrated. Throughout there is a regard for the library and for books which is never preachy and which subtly suggests that reading is fun. Also useful. When the hippo develops a case of the hiccups, they look for the cure in a library book.

School Library Journal

K-Gr 2 A girl gets the hiccups at the library, which sets off a sequence of events that involves little sisters, hippos, flying ice cream, and other zany happenings. While trying to get rid of them, she discovers a hippo in a tree and exclaims, "The wonderful thing about finding a hippo in a tree is that it is a BIG surprise. BIG surprises are the best way to get rid of BIG hiccups." She then adds that hippos are the best way to carry library books, and what follows is a rollicking series of events that even has a librarian climbing onto the roof to save the little sister. The silly pen, ink, and watercolor illustrations that race across the pages add sparkle and appeal. However, the whimsical nature of the story is at odds with the concluding message-that being responsible with your library books shows that you are ready for your own library card. It's just too heavy-handed for most children. The book ends with "Library book rules to remember."-Linda M. Kenton, San Rafael Public Library, CA

Kirkus Reviews

With help from a hippo and an accident-prone little sister, a child explains library rules in this bubbly debut from Meng. A sequence of linked events begins with an attack of hiccups, which, the narrator notes, makes people laugh-particularly in quiet places like the library. Hiccups can be cured by big surprises, such as finding a hippo in the tree outside the library-and hippos are good for transportation home, along with other things. And best of all, returning a stack of finished books that have been thrown, dropped, used as plates for ice cream, swallowed by a hippo and then vomited up (treatment that many actual library items evidently receive, as any public-library worker will attest) on time earns the reward of a library card. Pedersen's lighthearted cartoons feature a big hippo, two expressively posed young patrons and a staid-looking librarian with the inner stuff to climb a ladder to the roof when, for instance, a little sister has to be rescued. Faintly reminiscent of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, this introduction doesn't exactly model best practices, but it does state them in ways that children will laughingly absorb. (Picture book. 5-8)

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