What do you think?
Rate this book
The Boy Who Was Followed Home
Young Robert's delight in being followed home by a hippopotamus turns to chagrin as more and more of the beasts crowd in
Paperback
First published January 1, 1975
1 person is currently reading
131 people want to read
About the author
Margaret Mahy
400 books291 followersMargaret Mahy was a well-known New Zealand author of children's and young adult books. While the plots of many of her books have strong supernatural elements, her writing concentrates on the themes of human relationships and growing up.
Her books The Haunting and The Changeover: A Supernatural Romance both received the Carnegie Medal of the British Library Association. There have 100 children's books, 40 novels, and 20 collections of her stories published. Among her children's books, A Lion in the Meadow and The Seven Chinese Brothers and The Man Whose Mother was a Pirate are considered national classics. Her novels have been translated into German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Italian, Japanese, Catalan and Afrikaans. In addition, some stories have been translated into Russian, Chinese and Icelandic.
For her contributions to children's literature she was made a member of the Order of New Zealand. The Margaret Mahy Medal Award was established by the New Zealand Children's Book Foundation in 1991 to provide recognition of excellence in children's literature, publishing and literacy in New Zealand. In 2006 she was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Award (known as the Little Nobel Prize) in recognition of a "lasting contribution to children's literature".
Margaret Mahy died on 23 July 2012.
On 29 April 2013, New Zealand’s top honour for children’s books was renamed the New Zealand Post Margaret Mahy Book of the Year award.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret...
Her books The Haunting and The Changeover: A Supernatural Romance both received the Carnegie Medal of the British Library Association. There have 100 children's books, 40 novels, and 20 collections of her stories published. Among her children's books, A Lion in the Meadow and The Seven Chinese Brothers and The Man Whose Mother was a Pirate are considered national classics. Her novels have been translated into German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Italian, Japanese, Catalan and Afrikaans. In addition, some stories have been translated into Russian, Chinese and Icelandic.
For her contributions to children's literature she was made a member of the Order of New Zealand. The Margaret Mahy Medal Award was established by the New Zealand Children's Book Foundation in 1991 to provide recognition of excellence in children's literature, publishing and literacy in New Zealand. In 2006 she was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Award (known as the Little Nobel Prize) in recognition of a "lasting contribution to children's literature".
Margaret Mahy died on 23 July 2012.
On 29 April 2013, New Zealand’s top honour for children’s books was renamed the New Zealand Post Margaret Mahy Book of the Year award.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
June 15, 2011
This book was published in 1975 but today is the first time I remember reading it. I’m already mourning not introducing it to many kids, especially boys, especially reluctant readers, and reluctant listeners.
It’s so funny. The illustrations are so much fun.
I was alerted to read this book because of Goodreads friend Abigail’s review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/..., and I can’t really say it any better, so please read her review.
I thought it would go downhill when the witch arrived, but it never got any less sweet or amusing.
This book is a real treasure, and one I can wholeheartedly recommend.
And, the hippos are adorable
This book would have been a hit with me and other San Francisco raised children way back when. We had a very famous coffee shop, the Hippo Burger, a place I grew up with, a coffee shop that had a hippo theme. And, oh gosh, there’s even a cookbook from that place: Hippo cook book, which I would hate now, but in 1969 I’m surprised I didn’t buy a copy. Anyway, these hippos reminded me of their décor and reminded me of how popular an animal they were with my friends and I when we were kids.
They’re very cute here. All the illustrations are wonderful; there is so much to view. And the story is so good-natured, and it made me smile, numerous times. I’m busily trying to think of kids young enough to fully appreciate this book. Just perfect!
It’s so funny. The illustrations are so much fun.
I was alerted to read this book because of Goodreads friend Abigail’s review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/..., and I can’t really say it any better, so please read her review.
I thought it would go downhill when the witch arrived, but it never got any less sweet or amusing.
This book is a real treasure, and one I can wholeheartedly recommend.
And, the hippos are adorable
This book would have been a hit with me and other San Francisco raised children way back when. We had a very famous coffee shop, the Hippo Burger, a place I grew up with, a coffee shop that had a hippo theme. And, oh gosh, there’s even a cookbook from that place: Hippo cook book, which I would hate now, but in 1969 I’m surprised I didn’t buy a copy. Anyway, these hippos reminded me of their décor and reminded me of how popular an animal they were with my friends and I when we were kids.
They’re very cute here. All the illustrations are wonderful; there is so much to view. And the story is so good-natured, and it made me smile, numerous times. I’m busily trying to think of kids young enough to fully appreciate this book. Just perfect!
December 19, 2019
Although I have always loved Margaret Mahy's fiction -
The Tricksters
is one of my favorite young-adult novels of all time - for some reason I have never looked at any of her many picture-books. But when I read, in Betsy Hearne's article "Nobody Knows..." (published in the September/October 2009 issue of the Horn Book Magazine, devoted to the theme of "Trouble") that this sweet little story, which first saw print in 1975, had been challenged - They give the little boy a pill! Oh no! There's a witch! And you can find her in the telephone directory! Quelle horreur! - I knew I had to track it down. How glad I am that I did!
The story is wonderfully amusing, in that matter-of-factly surreal way that I have come to appreciate in picture-books of a certain stamp. Think Mac Barnett's Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem , or David Small's Imogene's Antlers , in which the young protagonists confront some unusual circumstances (caring for a pet blue whale, and growing antlers, respectively). In The Boy Who Was Followed Home, young Robert finds that he has an ever-growing train of hippopotami following him home from school, and while he himself is pleased - he'd always liked these lumbering creatures, and "was delighted to think that he was the sort of boy that hippopotami would follow" - his parents are less than thrilled at their presence in the back yard. Naturally, when a boy is being followed by a hippopotamine crowd, the solution is to call in a witch, and so Robert's father hires Mrs. Cathy Squinge. Unfortunately (or fortunately, as the case may be), he doesn't listen to her warning about the side-effects of the pill she prescribes...
I loved this book! The story just tickled my funny bone, and the ending - which put me strongly in mind of the similar conclusion in Imogene's Antlers (mentioned above), was just delightful! Steven Kellogg's artwork, which didn't impress me terribly, based on my perusal of the cover, ended up working very well with the narrative. All in all, a fabulous addition to any young reader's picture-book shelf. If this is trouble, then I want more of it!
The story is wonderfully amusing, in that matter-of-factly surreal way that I have come to appreciate in picture-books of a certain stamp. Think Mac Barnett's Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem , or David Small's Imogene's Antlers , in which the young protagonists confront some unusual circumstances (caring for a pet blue whale, and growing antlers, respectively). In The Boy Who Was Followed Home, young Robert finds that he has an ever-growing train of hippopotami following him home from school, and while he himself is pleased - he'd always liked these lumbering creatures, and "was delighted to think that he was the sort of boy that hippopotami would follow" - his parents are less than thrilled at their presence in the back yard. Naturally, when a boy is being followed by a hippopotamine crowd, the solution is to call in a witch, and so Robert's father hires Mrs. Cathy Squinge. Unfortunately (or fortunately, as the case may be), he doesn't listen to her warning about the side-effects of the pill she prescribes...
I loved this book! The story just tickled my funny bone, and the ending - which put me strongly in mind of the similar conclusion in Imogene's Antlers (mentioned above), was just delightful! Steven Kellogg's artwork, which didn't impress me terribly, based on my perusal of the cover, ended up working very well with the narrative. All in all, a fabulous addition to any young reader's picture-book shelf. If this is trouble, then I want more of it!
December 23, 2023
!!don’t read this view unless you are ok with spoilers!!
This book was beyond amazing. The illustrations, rhymes, characters, and twist ending!! What more can you ask for?? Don’t read this book unless you want to never enjoy a book again. This puts all other books to shame. My favourite illustrations were the hippos and giraffe that is at the end
Highly recommend
This book was beyond amazing. The illustrations, rhymes, characters, and twist ending!! What more can you ask for?? Don’t read this book unless you want to never enjoy a book again. This puts all other books to shame. My favourite illustrations were the hippos and giraffe that is at the end
Highly recommend
November 8, 2023
SPOILER ALERT
Reading this book makes me think of Jefferson Airplane's 1967 song "White Rabbit." Many of us know what that was about.
Books like this shock me. I once read a book that I think was titled "How To Find A Friend." It could have been retitled "Child Abduction 101." "The Boy Who Was Followed Home" could be retitled "Introduction To Illicit Drugs." Authors need to think about what they are writing and the messages they are sending.
The main character Robert was lucky; he had hippopotami following him home from school every day. What fun! His parents wouldn't have it, though. He was made to change the hippos to giraffes following him home by taking a pill under his parents' insistence, given to him by a stranger - a witch "who was not very respectable-looking" and who his parents didn't know, but they had found her in the telephone book, and she shows up at midnight, following his grandfather's birthday party - grandparents are passed out on the sofa with a sinking ship in the painting behind them - good omen for Robert to get out of the house. His parents freely allowed the witch to drug their child, in fact they insisted upon it, with no questions asked even though they were told that there was a disadvantage in taking it. ARE YOU SERIOUS??????????? Passed-out, drunken?/drugged? grandparents? And parents allowing their child to take drugs from a questionable person who arrives at midnight?! Sounds like a phone call to Child Protective Services is in order here. The witch has all sorts of small creatures emerging from her handbag which makes me guess at the contents of the pill.
Children have injured themselves after having watched stunts on television. There is a possibility that a child will get the idea to go through Grandma's purse to find the pills in there. No need to ask for parental permission, it says in the book that parents don't mind. Heck, there are commercials on television every day touting taking pills. Never mind about the drug crisis at the time of the publication of this book and the one now. There are teenagers nowadays who think that taking pills is harmless because they are "good for you." Here is a book that boosts that misguided belief.
The lesson this book teaches is that taking pills from questionable people is quite reasonable. This book should never have been published or should have been rewritten. Instead of a witch with pills, how about a fairy who appears and waves a wand? What was wrong with the hippos to begin with?
The artwork is good. I suggest using this book for making collages except for the page where a woman and her poodle fall from her car off a bridge to their possible death or injury - were they pushed out by the driver?, and all of the drug(ged) scenes. The drawings of Robert meeting a giraffe and crossing a bridge with four giraffes behind him are suitable for framing. Maybe the artist was sending warning messages in the drawing of a soldier near a cannon pointed at Robert's father as he makes the phone call to the witch, and in the drawings of the witch with her neck encircled in dead rats and teeth. The teeth make her seem like she might be the tooth fairy. That would make her seem harmless since the Tooth Fairy has free entry to everyone's home and only purchases teeth from under pillows while everyone is sleeping - another bizarre thing to tell a child. And she also might be related to Santa Claus because she enters the home through the chimney. Santa enters through the chimney, so drug dealer witches who arrive through the chimney are harmless, right? The pill bottle is Mr. Yuk green in color. Robert does turn green after taking the green pill, but all turns out well for him. Perhaps the publisher and author were on drugs. Maybe the artist, too.
Thankfully, there are friendly animals who accompany young Robert to and from school because he doesn't seem to have a responsible adult in his life. It's a long distance between school and home, flat terrain, though. Maybe his parents watch him from the upper stories of their grand house.
I do not suggest reading this book to a child at all. If you do read this to a child, you need to have a talk about how this is make-believe and how ingesting pills, especially from strangers, is dangerous and any pills that are to be ingested need to be checked by a parent of good character - Robert's parents are not.
Other readers found it to be funny. I found it to be bizarre and not funny in the least.
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/49...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...
Postscript:
After writing the above review, I remembered that the pill made Robert repugnant to the hippopotami and attractive to the giraffes. I can just imagine a child reading this story and thinking to take a pill to drive away bullies and attract friends. There is so much wrong with this story.
https://pediatrics.aappublications.or...
Update:
Maybe this is tongue-in-cheek along the lines of MAD Magazine.
Maybe Margaret Mahy or/and Steven Kellogg was raised in a home with drug use and absent parenting.
Reading this book makes me think of Jefferson Airplane's 1967 song "White Rabbit." Many of us know what that was about.
Books like this shock me. I once read a book that I think was titled "How To Find A Friend." It could have been retitled "Child Abduction 101." "The Boy Who Was Followed Home" could be retitled "Introduction To Illicit Drugs." Authors need to think about what they are writing and the messages they are sending.
The main character Robert was lucky; he had hippopotami following him home from school every day. What fun! His parents wouldn't have it, though. He was made to change the hippos to giraffes following him home by taking a pill under his parents' insistence, given to him by a stranger - a witch "who was not very respectable-looking" and who his parents didn't know, but they had found her in the telephone book, and she shows up at midnight, following his grandfather's birthday party - grandparents are passed out on the sofa with a sinking ship in the painting behind them - good omen for Robert to get out of the house. His parents freely allowed the witch to drug their child, in fact they insisted upon it, with no questions asked even though they were told that there was a disadvantage in taking it. ARE YOU SERIOUS??????????? Passed-out, drunken?/drugged? grandparents? And parents allowing their child to take drugs from a questionable person who arrives at midnight?! Sounds like a phone call to Child Protective Services is in order here. The witch has all sorts of small creatures emerging from her handbag which makes me guess at the contents of the pill.
Children have injured themselves after having watched stunts on television. There is a possibility that a child will get the idea to go through Grandma's purse to find the pills in there. No need to ask for parental permission, it says in the book that parents don't mind. Heck, there are commercials on television every day touting taking pills. Never mind about the drug crisis at the time of the publication of this book and the one now. There are teenagers nowadays who think that taking pills is harmless because they are "good for you." Here is a book that boosts that misguided belief.
The lesson this book teaches is that taking pills from questionable people is quite reasonable. This book should never have been published or should have been rewritten. Instead of a witch with pills, how about a fairy who appears and waves a wand? What was wrong with the hippos to begin with?
The artwork is good. I suggest using this book for making collages except for the page where a woman and her poodle fall from her car off a bridge to their possible death or injury - were they pushed out by the driver?, and all of the drug(ged) scenes. The drawings of Robert meeting a giraffe and crossing a bridge with four giraffes behind him are suitable for framing. Maybe the artist was sending warning messages in the drawing of a soldier near a cannon pointed at Robert's father as he makes the phone call to the witch, and in the drawings of the witch with her neck encircled in dead rats and teeth. The teeth make her seem like she might be the tooth fairy. That would make her seem harmless since the Tooth Fairy has free entry to everyone's home and only purchases teeth from under pillows while everyone is sleeping - another bizarre thing to tell a child. And she also might be related to Santa Claus because she enters the home through the chimney. Santa enters through the chimney, so drug dealer witches who arrive through the chimney are harmless, right? The pill bottle is Mr. Yuk green in color. Robert does turn green after taking the green pill, but all turns out well for him. Perhaps the publisher and author were on drugs. Maybe the artist, too.
Thankfully, there are friendly animals who accompany young Robert to and from school because he doesn't seem to have a responsible adult in his life. It's a long distance between school and home, flat terrain, though. Maybe his parents watch him from the upper stories of their grand house.
I do not suggest reading this book to a child at all. If you do read this to a child, you need to have a talk about how this is make-believe and how ingesting pills, especially from strangers, is dangerous and any pills that are to be ingested need to be checked by a parent of good character - Robert's parents are not.
Other readers found it to be funny. I found it to be bizarre and not funny in the least.
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/49...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...
Postscript:
After writing the above review, I remembered that the pill made Robert repugnant to the hippopotami and attractive to the giraffes. I can just imagine a child reading this story and thinking to take a pill to drive away bullies and attract friends. There is so much wrong with this story.
https://pediatrics.aappublications.or...
Update:
Maybe this is tongue-in-cheek along the lines of MAD Magazine.
Maybe Margaret Mahy or/and Steven Kellogg was raised in a home with drug use and absent parenting.
September 30, 2020
I cannot get over how beautiful the illustrations are for this book. They are filled with surreal imagery combined with a sunny color palate. This story does involve witches so it would be perfect to read around Halloween. I would recommend this to students grades K-2.
August 12, 2025
Heerlijk verhaal over Kareltje Jonas die 'een probleem heeft' . Gelukkig heeft Nel Paardweg naar een oplossing voor. Maar....of zijn ouders daar nu zo blij mee zullen zijn. Heel simplistisch en grappig. Een terechte klassieker!
July 9, 2018
Quirky humor with a great ending.
November 6, 2018
I really like this one--my kids liked it too. Definitely a fun, non-irritating for multiple reads, book. If you know what I mean.
December 14, 2018
Funny in unexpected ways!
Read
November 6, 2019Can't rate. A reader needs to have a particular affinity for the absurd, which I do not have. Fans of the surreal might also like that.
Read
May 21, 2021sweet, funny and logical in its outcome
March 22, 2022
Story about a boy who keeps being followed home by hippos. His father hires a witch to cure him, and the hippos go away, but he's then followed home by giraffes instead.
August 8, 2022
this book ate.
July 3, 2025
Liked the illustrations better than the ending of the story.
July 30, 2013
How has this amazing work collaborated by Margaret Mahy and Steven Kellogg eluded me all these years? I absolutely loved every part of this silly story. A brilliant down right hysterical read aloud that kids will LOVE.
One day while walking home from school Robert notices he is being tailed by a hippopotamus. Since Robert enjoys hippopotami this greatly pleases him. It does not, however, please his family when they notice the rotund beast swimming in the fish pool in their yard. Each day Robert returns home from a day of school with more and more hippopotami follow and taking up residence in the ever shrinking pool. Well the only logical thing to do is to call up a witch to cure Robert of his attractiveness to hippos. Of course, that is the only rational choice! (OMG I think my daughter and I about wept tears of laughter upon reaching this juncture in the story.) If only Roberts pushy parents had taken a moment to hear about the possible side effects?
One day while walking home from school Robert notices he is being tailed by a hippopotamus. Since Robert enjoys hippopotami this greatly pleases him. It does not, however, please his family when they notice the rotund beast swimming in the fish pool in their yard. Each day Robert returns home from a day of school with more and more hippopotami follow and taking up residence in the ever shrinking pool. Well the only logical thing to do is to call up a witch to cure Robert of his attractiveness to hippos. Of course, that is the only rational choice! (OMG I think my daughter and I about wept tears of laughter upon reaching this juncture in the story.) If only Roberts pushy parents had taken a moment to hear about the possible side effects?
October 5, 2012
The first book I remember from my childhood!I was 3 years old and my mother used to read it to me.
Totally destroyed the original copy because I loved it so much that I kept hanging around with it in my grubby little hands and smearing crayons on to the pages.
Recently went to a bookstore for a friend book signing and decided that simply had to buy my young goddaughter this book.
Because I couldn't remember the title or author, I had to explain the story /plot to the saleswoman,and she was an angel and got it right at the first try!I was impressed with the details and characters I still remembered even after 30 years
Goes without saying that I bought a new copy for me too...
January 12, 2016
I don't normally read books that were written before I was born (this one is 1975). But I saw the hippopotamus on the cover can just had to read it. Luckily I was not disappointed! "The Boy Who Was Followed Home" made me laugh out loud and was definitely a book that would be perfect for storytime. I knew it would be special when it was illustrated by my hero Steven Kellogg and the ending couldn't have been more perfect!
January 21, 2016
A cute story about a little boy who (apparently) is irresistible to hippos. Every day more and more of them start following him home until it really gets out of hand. His father enlists the services of a witch to make the boy unappealing to the huge quadrupeds. And while the witch's pill does the trick, there is an unexpected side-effect...
Fun illustrations - hippos are always hilarious.
Fun illustrations - hippos are always hilarious.
September 26, 2007
This funny book tells the story of Robert, a small boy who likes hippopotami. It's lucky he likes them, because one day they start following him home from school! But no family can handle dozens of hippos living in the goldfish pond. How can they solve this hippo-sized problem? A witch, of course! This is a fun one to read aloud.
November 30, 2014
I like Mahy. And I like Kellogg. I think my husband read this to me at my insistence, and I was very sleepy. Somehow, it just wasn't that entertaining. It didn't have enough creativity and flair to keep me awake. But that's fine. Mahy was prolific, not everything she touched had to turn into a book of gold. And Kellogg illustrated quite a few things, and is well-known by Reading Rainbow watchers.
October 15, 2008
A silly story about a boy who attracts hippos - more every day. His parents hire a witch to rid him of his hippo magnetism. It's told in a dry this-sort-of-thing-happens -all-the-time sort of way. It's funny - especially because of the illustrations.
September 23, 2014
I loved this book It made me laugh out loud! This cute and simple story about a boy who is being followed by hippopotamus is sure to put a smile on your face. I would recommend this to all ages for a good chuckle kind of book. The illustrations aid in the humor and really add to the story.
February 10, 2015
Story of Robert who gets followed home by hippopotami. Simple, but there are sentences that are unique and lovely "He was delighted to think that he was the sort of boy hippopotami would follow."
Is suitable for storytimes.
Is suitable for storytimes.
March 1, 2009
the kids thought it was funny and liked the new word, "hippopotami".
April 25, 2009
I especially liked how all the hippos smiled benevolently throughout most of the story.
September 17, 2009
My favorite book of all time.
December 20, 2009
Lovely Steven Kellogg illustrations. Great for all hippo lovers!
September 14, 2011
Soo cute and humorous. Loved it!
November 2, 2011
A witch's pill is supposed to cure Robert of the hippopotami who daily follow him home from school--but there is one disadvantage to the treatment.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews