Elefante tiene Hipo, or Hiccups for Elephant

Many of the books on Maria’s shelves are Spanish and bilingual editions of classics like Are you my Mother? and The Ugly Duckling. She also has various editions of Spanish picture dictionaries that help me as much as her.

You see, my Spanish is good. Excellent, in fact, by the standards of English-only speakers. But, I forget basic words – stage, branch, plum – because until my daughter was born 4 years ago, I did not use my Mother Tongue on a daily basis.

I live in Tennessee, far from my Spanish-speaking, Cuban-American family in Miami. My career as a newspaper reporter required excellent English, in writing and thinking.

So, to pass Spanish on to my daughter, it has taken a big digging down into marrow to retrieve words and phrases, stories and songs that I had long forgotten.

The Spanish and bilingual books I try to pick for Maria have simple translations and use common, everyday words. I want her to listen to the rhythm of the language, hear how the r is rolled, how ñ is different from ll.

The ones on our shelves I dread reading appear to have been translated for native speakers with doctorates. Sometimes, I have to stop, read the whole page and then give her the quickie translation, because if I read the page as written, we’d both be lost. And, then, she doesn’t want that book anymore. Not our goal.

We have been reading Elephante tiene Hipo since she was 2. The English version is called Hiccups for Elephant, by James Preller and Hans Wilhelm, and published by Hello, Reader.

Maria loves the book because it is funny and the animals are both cranky and helpful. Kind of like a pre-schooler. Elephant has the hiccups (hipo) and the noise is keeping the animals awake during siesta. Each of the animals gives Elephant a tip for getting rid of the hiccups.

Mono tells Elefante:

“Come esta banana, patas arriba…sin respirar.’’

Elefante lo intentó

¡CATAPLUM! al suelo se cayó.

I love the word cataplum. It is the Spanish sound for falling down, like “Bam.’’ Another great word from the book: alboroto, which means ruckus.

When I read it, I adopt a different voice for each of the four animals – Mono, León, Zebra, and Ratoncito. Elefante only hiccups.

Maria always cracks up at the end, and remember, we’ve been reading it for two years.