Bertram wheeled the hippopotamus home in his wagon.

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1 by Paul T. Gilbert

2 Bertram wheeled the hippopotamus home in his wagon.

3 ONCE there was a little boy named Bertram. And he wanted a hippopotamus. He wanted a hippopotamus like everything. So he teased his mamma for a hippopotamus. Mamma, he d say, I want a hippopotamus. But you can t have a hippopotamus, his mamma would tell him. It s out of the question. But, Mamma, I want a hippopotamus. Now, you run along, she d say, and stop teasing. You can t have a hippopotamus, and that settles it. If you ask me for a hippopotamus again, you can t have any gooseberry tarts for supper. Bertram liked gooseberry tarts, so he stopped teasing. But one day, when he was walking down Elm Street, he saw a hippopotamus. He tied a string to it and wheeled it home in his wagon. And he put the hippopotamus in the cellar because he didn t want his folks to know he had a hippopotamus.

4 Then he went upstairs to supper. He was eating his gooseberry tarts when he heard a funny squeaky noise. It went, Wee-eek, wee-eek, wee-eek. Bertram s mamma asked, What is that funny squeaky noise? But Bertram did not answer. I hope it isn t mice, said Bertram s mamma. Afterward, when Bertram went to bed, he heard the squeaky noise again. It went, Wee-eek, wee-eek, wee-eek, all night. And nobody knew what it was. The next morning before breakfast, Bertram went downstairs to see his hippopotamus. And it began to squeak. And Bertram asked, Was that you who was squeaking last night? And the hippopotamus said, Yes, and began to squeak some more. What are you squeaking like that for? Bertram asked. Because you didn t give me any supper, and it s time for breakfast now. Well, if you ll stop squeaking, Bertram said, I ll bring you down your breakfast. So, instead of eating his mush, he stuffed it into his pocket for the hippopotamus. And he stuffed some pancakes into his pocket too, and a hot soft-boiled egg. He didn t eat a thing himself, but gave his breakfast even the soft-boiled egg, which broke to the hippopotamus. But the hippopotamus said, Huh! Is this all you brought me? I can eat lots more than this. And it began squeaking again. 4

5 Huh! Is this all you brought me? It began squeaking very loudly. Bertram said, Now you stop squeaking, and when I come home from school, I ll give you all my lunch. When he came home from school, instead of eating his peanutbutter sandwiches and spinach, he stuffed everything into his pocket for the hippopotamus. His mamma thought that he was eating, but all he really ate was just a little soup, because he couldn t put that in his pocket. Then he went down to the cellar with his lunch. But the hippopotamus just said, Huh! Is this all you brought? I can eat lots more than this. 5

6 What is that squeaky noise? And Bertram said, Don t squeak, and I ll give you a nice dinner. When he came home from school that afternoon, Bertram was just awfully hungry, because he hadn t had a thing for breakfast and only a bowl of soup for lunch. Everything else had gone down to the hippopotamus. So he asked his mamma, Mamma, may I have a cracker? I m just awfully hungry. No, Bertram, his mamma said, not now. It isn t good for you to eat between meals. But Bertram said, I m not eating between meals. May I have just one? So Bertram s mamma gave him one cracker, and he ate it. 6

7 When dinnertime came, they had no end of things that Bertram liked. They had mince pie and apple dumplings and baked beans, and they had angel cake and beefsteak. And they had nice, juicy ham. Bertram was so hungry that he forgot about the hippopotamus, and he was just going to bolt a big mouthful of the juicy ham when that terrible squeaky noise was heard again. Bertram s mamma said, What is that squeaky noise? I do hope it s not mice. But Bertram s daddy said it sounded as if something needed oiling. Of course, when Bertram heard it, he didn t eat a bit of ham, but stuffed it all into his pocket for the hippopotamus and passed his plate for more. His daddy said, What an appetite Bertram is getting! I never saw him eat so much. Yes, his mamma said, he eats like a pig. But all this time poor Bertram wasn t eating anything. When they passed the pie, he stuffed that into his pocket because he was afraid the hippopotamus would squeak. And the apple dumplings and the angel cake and the beefsteak, he stuffed all those into his pocket, too, and got up from the table hungrier than ever. Then he flew downstairs to make the hippopotamus stop squeaking. Huh! Is that all? said the hippopotamus. I can eat lots more than that. For breakfast I should like some hay. The hippopotamus swallowed the nice dinner all in one gulp, and Bertram, seeing it vanish, began to cry. 7

8 BY PICTURES BY Little Bertram, he s always bringing home the most extraordinary pets, usually after asking his mamma for permission first, of course. But who ever heard of cutting holes in the ceiling for a giraffe? Or running from a dangerously ticklish rhinoceros? If only Bertram would bring home a dog or a cat or even a turtle instead, he might not find himself in such predicaments. And his mamma my, is she frazzled! Author Paul T. Gilbert, who happened to have a son just like Bertram, first imagined these pet-ownership mishaps as bedtime stories. Bertram and His Funny Animals became a book in Now it s back in a new edition, and this time a troublesome camel joins the original s mischievous menagerie! Children will love Bertram s cackle-inducing dilemmas and the sweet drawings by Minnie Rousseff, and parents will delight in tales filled with the charming foibles of childhood. Assisting Bertram in his misadventures are his well-behaved little brother, Baby Sam, and friends Ginny and George. Aunt Ella and Great-Aunt Jane reliably offer their disapproval. Neighbor Mrs. Cree is appropriately nosy. Bertram s mamma, well, she means well. And Bertram s daddy always manages to save the day (that is, when he gets back from business in Omaha). PAUL T. GILBERT ( ) was a career newspaperman, most notably for the Chicago Evening Post, from the turn of the twentieth century until the Great Depression. For the delight of his readers during his years as a columnist and feature writer, Gilbert took on stints as a museum guard and mounted policeman, and circus acrobat, animal trainer, and clown. In the early 1930s he invented the Bertram stories, which he modeled after family and friends, including his wife, Ilse, and their two sons, Paul Jr. and Peter. Child Life magazine published nearly seventy of the now-classic tales. 144 pp., 6 x 7½ in. Smyth-sewn casebound, with jacket More than 70 illustrations A251 ISBN $24.95 US ($32.95 Canada) Available February Family of Paul T. Gilbert Illustrations by Minnie H. Rousseff. All rights reserved. Published by PomegranateKids, an imprint of Pomegranate Communications, Inc NE Portal Way, Portland OR Pomegranate Europe Ltd. Unit 1, Heathcote Business Centre, Hurlbutt Road Warwick, Warwickshire CV34 6TD, UK [+44] sales@pomeurope.co.uk This item is CPSIA compliant. Printed in China

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FIRST GRADE FIRST GRADE HIGH FREQUENCY WORDS FIRST 100 HIGH FREQUENCY WORDS FIRST 100 HIGH FREQUENCY WORDS FIRST 100 about Preprimer, Primer or 1 st Grade lists 1 st 100 of again 100 HF words for Grade 1 all am an are as away be been before big black blue boy brown but by came cat come