Review: Good, Light-Hearted Fun
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 29, 2013
Like Gerald Hawksley's other books, Happy Hippo is a fun, lighthearted, playful read. The illustrations are colourful and upbeat. And the text is in typical Hawksley fun rhyme.I love rhyme, and I have a high standard when a book claims to be a rhyming book. While I wouldn't give Happy Hippo's rhyme and metre a 5, it's close enough, and it isn't at all awkward. (Sure, Hawksley's metre isn't at the level of Dr. Seuss, Mr. Meus, or Julia Donaldson--or John Lithgow, who's probably like a 6 out of 5 :)--but it's better than most of the books on Kindle.) He even does a nice job of changing the pattern of the rhyme in the middle of the book, making the story almost song-like.The biggest thing Happy Hippo has going for it is simply its lightheartedness. Happy Hippo teaches us to appreciate the little blessings all around us. And it does so without being preachy, which is how all children's books should do it. (Dr. Seuss pointed out that children can smell a moral a mile away, and really, who wants to be preached to?)I found that you come out of reading Happy Hippo a little more grateful, a little lighter, a little more playful, and guess what...a little happier.