Hot Hippo

by Mwenye Hadithi, Adrienne Kennaway (Illustrator)

Hippo was hot and thought how wonderful it would be to live in the water. Hippo pleaded with the god of Everything and Everywhere to let him live in the rivers and streams.



Ngai agreed Hippo could live in the water but only if he promised not to eat the little fishes and to come out of the water at night and eat grass.

The story of how Hippo came to live in the river instead of on dry land.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Childrens, Africa, Fiction

32 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 1986

About the author

Mwenye Hadithi, meaning "he who has the stories," is a name used by Bruce Hobson, who was inspired by Adrienne Kennaway's vibrant use of color to write stories for children. Mr. Hobson grew up on ten acres of bush garden with porcupines and gazelles; crocodiles in the rose bed; and a hippopotamus that once got stuck between the courtyard gates--all of which fostered his great love of animals and bush country of Kenya. Mr. Hobson lives in Nairobi with his wife and child.
(From the inside cover of one of his books)

Reviews

[Melki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hippo is hot. The river looks so tempting . . . so cool, so refreshing. BUT, Hippo's god, Ngai, has strict rules about land animals staying on the land, and so a dip in the water is out of the question.
Or, is it?

I'm not sure what your child will make of this, but it mostly annoyed me as a reminder of the strange, unreasonable demands that gods make of their followers.

Nice illustrations, though.

[Eddie B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNyug...

[Teri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Also great--I'm anxious to try more by this author. Great stories about African animals.

[Meredith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hippo makes a bargain with the God of Everything and Everywhere that allows him to live partly in the water.

This picture book tells how hippopotamuses came to live in the water. The creator deity has imposed very rigid separations between the animals of land, water, and air. But Hippo longs to spend his days in the cool water, so he promises not to eat any of the fish and perform various actions to prove he is keeping his part of the bargain.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is something very satisfying about a "just-so" story, which explains how things got to be the way they are. This does that very nicely with a story about how the hippo got to live in the water by day, on land at night, with even some details about why they sit with their mouths open, and why they stir up the mud with their tails. The artwork is also quite lovely.

[Min · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Weston Woods Production.
The story of why Hippo acts as it does, such as why they eat grass, not fish, why they wag their tales, and why they open their mouth so wide.

I do not know if this a traditional folktale, but it does have a similar structure. Lovely story.

[KhiN’Millie Friesen · Rating 4 out of 5]

God let the hippo go in the water but he couldn't eat the fishes. That was nice that he could hold his breath for a long time. I wonder how he does that? - Khi 3

[Athena]

We were exposed to this story with the scholastic video collection.

[Sari Zweig · Rating 3 out of 5]

HOT HIPPO is set in Africa and involves a hippo who is hot on land and yearns to live in the river with the
fish. This a story about a hippo that learns how to live in its natural habitat being the water. With the help of his friend Ngai, he allows the hippo to live in the water only if he agrees to not to eat fish or other animals within the river. When Hippo jumps into the water he sinks to the bottom. Hippo cannot swim! However, he solves the problem by holding his breath and running along the river’s bottom. And from that day forward,
Hippo enjoys the refreshing river and keeps his promise to Ngai.

The illustrations to this picture book are cute in that they show different animals, would be considered a fiction picture book. This story is eye catching and vibrant in colors with a number of animals and landscapes which could lead to a number of interesting discussions with children. The bright colors make it for a happy story about a animal and its habitat for a home.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story is about a hippo who was very hot, he then had an idea to live in the water were he thought he would be much happier, however he had to gain permission from ‘ngai’ who was in charge of everything and everywhere. This story is eye catching and vibrant in colours with a number of animals and landscapes which could lead to a number of interesting discussions with children. This book can be used to create a number of activities such as a writing activity where children are asked to write down, imagine and describe how they would feel i.e hot and what they would see i.e a lion, if they were to imaginably place themselves in this environment.

[Kelsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Age: Toddler - Kindergarten
Season: Summer

"Hippo was hot and thought how wonderful it would be to live in the water, so he walked and ran until he came to the mountain where Ngai lived. Hippo pleaded and eventually Ngai agreed—Hippo could live in the water, but only if he did not eat the fish and came onto the land at night" (Goodreads review).

A spark for the curious on how hippo came to reside in the river. Lovely telling that isn't trying too hard.

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

The big hippo talks to the god Ngai when he wants to live in the water because it is so hot. It looks like a creation story but cannot find any relative information on the story.
Relates why the hippopotamus lives in water.

[Bridget]

Have the audio version

[Lumi / Otso · Rating 5 out of 5]

fun and cute and interesting for the kids.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting little legend that explains why the hippo is the way it it. It was a little wordy for my personal taste, though, and I just didn't care for the illustrations.

[James]

A read-along DVD version