Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas
Illustrator: Bruce Whatley
Picture Book
For ages 4 to 8
HarperCollins, 2005 ISBN: 978-0060529420
A little girl knows just what she wants for Christmas and she is determined that everyone should know what it is she wants and why she wants it. What she wants is a hippopotamus. She informs her poor harassed looking parents that they needn?t bother giving her toys because all she wants is "a hippopotamus to play with." She won't accept some other animal either because the only kind of animal she likes are hippos in all their large, round, toothy beauty.
Any child who has begged or pleaded for a pet for Christmas will love this book. Deliciously expressive artwork shows all the wonderful things one can do if one has a pet hippo. Incidentally, and humorously, the pictures also show clearly that hippos are not really designed to be house pets. Most of all one sees how much the little girl wants this particular gift and how much she will love her hippo if she gets it - and how much her hippo will love her too.
