Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Hairy Hezekiah
Illustrator: Nick Bruel
Fiction
For ages 6 to 8
Roaring Brook Press, 2007 ISBN: 978-1596433182
Hezekiah is a Bactrian camel who lives in a zoo. Unlike the other animals, poor hairy Hezekiah is all alone without a single other camel to talk to. Not surprisingly, he is very lonely. He is also grumpy and talks to himself a lot, but one can hardly blame him for that.
One night Hezekiah manages to open the door of his paddock. He wanders around the zoo visiting some of the other animals, but none of them are suitable to be his “pal,” because they either laugh at him, are rude to him, or talk about eating him.
Then Hezekiah gets out of the zoo altogether and his adventures start in earnest. Somehow the camel has to avoid detection, which isn’t easy to do when you are that big, At the same time he needs to find a place where he can be happy and where he can have a little company as well.
This deliciously funny tale about a camel seeking friendship and a new home will have readers of all ages laughing out loud. Dick King-Smith is a master at giving his animal characters wonderful personalities, complete with amusing accents and colorful language.
