News and Stories

New book available at local book stores and at the Cincinnati Zoo gift shops

Cincinnati, OH (November 20) – Baby hippo Fiona’s face is all over a new board book, Fiona’s Feelings, by Blue Manatee Press owner and pediatrician Dr. John Hutton. Photographs of Fiona included in the book show her “expressing” various feelings, such as “happy,” “sad” and “scared.”.

“As a pediatrician and researcher specializing in early literacy, I thought this was a perfect way for young readers to explore Fiona’s amazing variety of feelings, so perfectly captured by photographers at our amazing zoo. Fiona is at times happy, curious and playful, as all children can be,” said Dr. Hutton.

Fiona’s story of overcoming incredible odds to survive and ultimately thrive has been well documented.  The Zoo has shared Fiona’s journey each day since her premature birth on January 24, 2017.  Dr. Hutton’s audience, children 0-3 years old, is a little young to understand the ups and downs that Fiona experienced on the road to becoming a healthy hippo but can appreciate and recognize the emotions that she wears on her uber-expressive face.

Dr. Hutton said, “Fiona makes us laugh, she makes us cry, she makes us proud. We’re confident that young children exploring their own feelings will experience this same connection. And what’s more lovable than a hippo face?”

In honor of both Fiona’s start as a preemie and the efforts of hospital staff to assist with Fiona’s care in her earliest days, Dr. Hutton and blue manatee press donated copies of Fiona’s Feelings to all the infants in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital last week.

The book is now available at blue manatee children’s bookstore, Sleepy Bee Cafe (Blue Ash and Oakley locations), the Metallic Giraffe on the westside, Cincinnati Children’s Gift Shop, and the Cincinnati Zoo’s gift shops. It will be distributed nationally in early 2018.

A portion of the proceeds from “Fiona’s Feelings” goes to the Cincinnati Zoo.