PreSchool-Grade 2 This book started from a family joke. Better it should have stayed in the family. A little girl believes that the family roof leaks because a hippopotamus is sitting on it eating cake. In contrast to the little girl the hippopotamus can do as he likestake a shower instead of a bath, eat special cake, stay up late watching TV, and not get smacked for doing bad things. And that's about it. It seems a slight bit of whimsy on which to hang a book. The story is matched by large watercolors with many flat surfaces; the hippo that is pictured is fairly nondescript. If your five-year-old niece told you this story, you'd pat her on the head and say "How cute, you clever child," but I don't think you'd hand her $12.95. Judith Gloyer, Milwaukee Public Lib .
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Australian author Hazel Edwards writes for all age groups, but her cake-eating hippo series is translated into Chinese and recently became a short film screening internationally with the Little Big Shots film festival. More details and activities are on her website.�--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.