Do Hippos Brush Their Teeth? How Animals Care for Their Bodies

Following on the success of Do Frogs Drink Hot Chocolate? (www.cmreviews.ca/node/299), Do Lizards Eat Ice Cream? (www.cmreviews.ca/node/190), and Do Fire Ants Fight Fires? (www.cmreviews.ca/node/3592), Kaner and Piechota are back with another book of animal facts, this time centered around the ways in which animals take care of themselves. Like its predecessors, each page features a fun question - Do whales get a good night’s sleep?, Do badgers wash their paws after using the toilet? - with the often surprising answer next to it. This question and answer format is an accessible and entertaining way to provide factual information and makes for an excellent read-aloud. Kaner clearly knows her audience, providing a diverse range of animals that includes the very trendy axolotl.

In only a few sentences, the answer text does a great job of communicating the factual information in a way that’s easy to understand. Readers will learn not only the answer to the asked question, but a couple of other fun facts about the animal in question. Younger readers may struggle with words like “parasite” or “keratin”, but these more difficult words can provide further opportunities for learning.

The illustrations match the text well, first showing the animals anthropomorphized and engaged in human-like behavior (the whale sleeping in a bed, the badger washing its hands in the sink) and then on the opposite page showing how the animal actually engages in the mentioned behavior (the whale floating upright in the water, the badger digging a hole where it will poop). Funny details - a “Dr. Kanga” degree on a kangaroo’s office wall, a frog running with a water belt, a pheasant taking a bath with a cup of tea, a candle, and a book - add to the humour and suit the overall silly mood of the book.

With its picture book-like qualities, Do Hippos Brush Their Teeth? How Animals Care for Their Bodies is a great introduction to nonfiction reads for a younger audience. Animal-loving kids are sure to delight in the fun facts and entertaining pictures.