Hippos Can't Swim

by Laura Lyn Disiena

Did you know that hippos can’t swim? This hilarious book is full of fun facts about all sorts of animals, from sleepy ants to jellyfish that glow!

Did you know that a zebra’s stripes are as unique as a human’s fingerprints?
How about that ants take about 250 naps per day?
Or that some jellyfish can glow—and that’s called bioluminescence?

Colorful, humorous illustrations accompany tons of cool facts about animals of all shapes, sizes, speeds, and species in this lively book that makes nonfiction fun!

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Nonfiction, Science, Childrens, Nature, Humor

32 pages, Unknown Binding

First published February 4, 2014

Reviews

[Lola Salamah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hippos Can’t Swim by Laura Lyn DiSiena is a great non-fiction book about an assortment of fun facts about many animals on land, and in the water. The illustrations by Pete Oswald in this book are what really grabbed my attention when I first picked the book up. After reading the book, I realized that I learned many interesting facts such as hippos really cannot swim! Can you imagine, a water animal is unable to swim?! I also learned that although turtles are known to be very slow on land, sea turtles can swim up to 35 miles an hour! Wowsa! And I find it rather amazing (and very well organized) that ants take one minute naps 250 times during the day so that most ants are working at any given time to achieve efficiency! I think children will love most the facts about the jellyfish, fireflies, and the zebras. This book is great for young elementary students as well as older elementary students since these facts are probably unknown to most children, but the illustrations will gain the interest of any age. If I had to pick a specific group I would suggest this book for K-3. The illustrations were bright, colorful and humorous to keep any child interested throughout the duration of the book. My 3-year-old daughter as well as my 11-year-old daughter both loved the book and asked that we read it a second time around together. This book will be great for students to look at with a friend, or a teacher can read this aloud to a class while discussing all the interesting facts they read about together. This book is presented in such a way that it would probably be more fun to read it aloud with a group of children. I am excited to read the other books in this series of Did You Know? And I will be on the lookout for more and more.

[Todd Glaeser · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun circular story of interesting animal facts.

[Franki Sibberson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this new nonfiction series!

[Morgan Renouf · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very informative and has lots and lots of facts. Although I enjoyed learning about all different kinds of animals, I think this story has too much information for a young reader to really digest. It definitely targets an older audience and would be a good book for a science lesson. One thing I loved about this book is how many different animals it tells us about such as kangaroos, fireflies, rabbits, and bats.

[Chelsie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is chalked full of facts about a variety of animals from its title character, hippos, to bats to Blue whales. This book is great for any child 9 years old or younger who loves animals or loves to learn new facts. I even learned new things, like the fact that sea turtles swim 35 miles per hour! Overall, fantastic writing by Laura Lyn DiSiena and illustrations by Pete Oswald.

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely adorable read about different animals and what they can or cannot do. The illustrations are gorgeous with lots of bright colors.

My sister found this book and crocheted a hippo to send to her great-niece. The hippo looks almost like the one on the cover.

Your child will find it fun. You will, too. I know I did.

[Bethany Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book to be very interesting. I think it is cute that there is an animal factbook for kids. The illustrations of all the different animals make it fun and interesting to read. This would be an awesome book to read during any animal themed weeks.

[Sophonie Joseph-Canel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative book! Definitely for a 1st grader, too advanced for a toddler. Love the big words, this story prompts divergent thinking. Your child or student will learn so much from this book, and have many questions. You can use the book in any science lesson. Enjoy!

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this book is very knowledgeable, lots of good information to learn about animals. But this book is way too long and was putting me to sleep. This book is definitely for way older children. I do like the colors tho.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this book up from the library because I love Pete Oswald's illustrations and they definitely didn't disappoint! Filled with fun and interesting facts, this book is sure to entertain readers of all ages. My 11 y.o. loved it but of course he already "knew everything" ;)

[Ashley Bonifield · Rating 4 out of 5]

The illustrations were stunning and the facts were in fact fun. However, I wish there was some kind of storyline to go with the facts or if the animals had some kind of connection I feel it would have flowed better. It did better with our 4yr old than our 2yr old.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun fact in this cute book!

[AMY · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great source for interesting animal facts. Fun, colorful illustrations throughout. Highly recommended for Gr. 3-5.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun cartoon illustrations accompany a book filled with fun facts.

[Pamela Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very cute format with lots of fun facts about animals.

[Angela Verry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the book, the pictures and the facts. Each fact they wanted to fact check. Great lesson on fake news. As in this book is not fake. The internet is fake sometimes!

[kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

fun facts

[Leah Garthwaite · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fun fiction story that includes tons of facts about different animals. Great for a lesson about animals.

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun animal facts with cartoon illustrations.

[Haley Kilgour · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is certainly a fun book that will teach you a few things. I wasn’t expecting it to be cyclical but it worked. I did find a few of the jumps from one animal to the next were a bit of a stretch.

[Sha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disiena, L. & Eliot, H. (2015).Hippos can't swim and other fun facts. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

Disiena and Eliot did a great job creating a very informational book that gives real life accounts of animals students may not have everyday contact with. The illustrator adds character to the book with vivid and detailed illustrations to help students who need visual connection with the information and animal. The humor in this picture book is great for younger audiences. Adding humor to the book can allow the teacher to bring animal science to the classroom in a different format other than a text book. With the very vivid colors students will cling to the book as a read aloud. Reading this book aloud would be preferred due to the vocabulary but would be a great way to introduce vocabulary into a science lesson.

Laura Lyn DiSiena writes other fun facts books that could be used in sequence to this book as well. Informational picture books are a great tool to use in the classroom with younger students.

[Nanci Booher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book happened to be at my scholastic bookfair and the cover art grabbed my attention. I didn't have time at that moment to see if it was fiction or non fiction but I purchased it for school and today I got to read it. ADORABLE. Writing a non fiction book aimed at kids is a talent...it has to grab their attention enough for them to read it through and not overwhelm them with facts they can't remember. What I really liked about this book is that facts about one animal will lead to facts about a completely different animal (squirrel have pouches they store their food in, kangaroos have pouches too but those are used for their babies). We start on page one with hippos and end with blue whales and a whole lot in between. I had no idea this was a series so I'm going to order the whole thing!

[Jessica Lane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hippos Can't Swim by Laura Lyn DiSiena is a fun, nonfiction book for elementary aged children. It teaches fun facts about different animals using fun language and hilarious pictures. I didn't even know a lot of the facts, especially that hippos can't swim!

I loved this book! The facts were educational but still fun enough to keep kids interested. The illustrations by Pete Oswald were so funny. On the page that talks about fireflys finding mates, it has a picture of a male firefly proposing to a female firefly with diamond rings. Neither you nor the kids could make it through this book without both learning something and laughing.

I would definitely use this book in a classroom. It would be a good text to use when talking about nonfiction in language arts or when talking about animals in science.

[Julia Elise · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was surprised about how much I didn't know in this book and how it took some convincing for my daughter to believe that hippos cannot swim. The authors did a great job of picking animals and facts that are not necessarily widely known, and presented them to children in a fun and colorful manner. The illustrations are colorful and cute.

I had no idea that sea turtles could swim as fast as 35 mph. Facts like this one would be great to present to a classroom while discussing differences among animals. Overall, it is just presented in such a manner that makes it more interesting and fun.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting facts about a variety of wildlife are presented in a clever way, making it fun for the reader to learn. Each fact leads from one animal to another in a seemingly random fashion until the last fact refers back to the first fact in true cyclical fashion. The illustrations are colorful and entertaining as well. This book is a great choice for independent readers or for grown-ups to read to small children.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm reviewing the paperback issue that did not come with a recording. Cute book, lots of fun facts that children will be spouting off to their parents and whoever else they can get to listen to the "did you know..." info bites. Cartoon illustrations make it more appealing for some kids than the usual straight drawing or photo (even though I did not care for the art at all but that is just me), and there is a lot of info packed into a small, picture book sized, child-friendly book.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think that young students would love this book and the fun animal facts inside. At first I wasn't crazy about the lack of connection between animals, but grew to like it as the book went on, especially for younger students. I do wish that there were some more non-fiction text features and that the book had a reference page of some sort, or shared how the authors learned what they taught us. Overall, an enjoyable book for young students to giggle at and learn some interesting animal facts.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice little tidbits of information with no more than 2 pages per animal. Transitions from one animal to the next were awkward/stretched at times but not distracting to the overall flow of the book. Recommended for introduction into a specific animal to get the conversation going. Cute cartoony illustrations.

[Stephanie Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very fun book. Humorously written, it makes the facts it presents even more interesting. The artwork is very colorful and lively. The writing style, the illustrations, and the facts themselves give this book a fun feel for children and adults alike. I would recommend it to students in grades 2-4.

[Jayce Senter · Rating 5 out of 5]

We loved this book and learned lots of fun facts about animals we thought we knew pretty well. Each page gives lesser known facts about animals such as hippos, zebras, herons, jellyfish, hummingbirds. My 3-year-old loved learning new words like bioluminescence. He also brought up herons a week later as we were talking about a different bird.