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). VERDICT A simply sweet (but not saccharine) tale for storytime sharing.-Lisa Kropp, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Donnelly, a cartoonist for the New Yorker magazine, brings her twisty imagination to strange happenings in Sally's backyard. For starters, when Sally goes outside, there's a hippo in the yard. "Mom, we have a hippo in our yard," yips Sally, flying through the backdoor. "I don't think so, dear," replies Mom, nose buried in the newspaper (there's a rare touch). Sally returns to the backyard with a little lettuce for the hippo, then spies a tiger in a tree. "Dad, we have a tiger in our tree!" Dad can't unglue himself from the monitorthough he does offer a rhyme: "No, Sally. That can't be." Sally, catching on: "Come see! Come see!" Then Dad lets it crumble: "Maybe later." Both sib Liz ("Go away") and Nana ("You can give them some grapes") find Sally's claimszebras! koalas!a bit far-fetched. They'll get their comeuppance in this sly take on the unexpected, which celebrates the little subversions in our lives that undermine everyday rules. Donnelly's ink-and-watercolor artwork has a steady energy, finely choreographed and sure of hand while possessing a delicacy that makes for a nifty encounter between child and beast, while the elders totally lose their cool. Sally has an energetic mop of yellow hair, jeans, and a white T-shirt; the whole family is white. "I told you!" Ah...words of gratification. (Picture book. 4-7) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.