Review: Look, There's a Hippopotamus in the Playground Eating Cake

Look, There's a Hippopotamus in the Playground Eating Cake

Written by Hazel Edwards

Illustrated by Deborah Niland

Publication Date: 2006
Publisher: Penguin Group
ISBN: 978 0 14 350140 4

Summary/Back cover:
The little girl from There's a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake is starting her first day of School!
She takes her hippopotamus with her and together they face those first-day-at-school experiences - meeting your teacher, eating lunch in the playground and making new friends.
This is a wonderful read-aloud book full of fun and reassurance for young people starting school.

Review:
I adore hippos, so am a bit of a sucker for any story that has one in it. But I found this book decidedly average. As mentioned in the summary, there is another book in the series which haven't read. I guess it is a book for kids starting school, but the inclusion of the hippo is just a little odd. Which is not to say that I don't like odd, because in general I do. I think what I mean is that it is out of place in the story, although it does play the role of reassuring our new entrant.

There is one part that always makes me and the little fella giggle, where they play hide and seek upon which we learn the hippo is very good at hiding with the picture showing her hiding behind a tree that is one-tenth her size.

Rating: 2.5/5

Review written by QTCass