The Hippo Who Hated to Struggle by Milt Lowe
“‘The Hippo Who Hated to Struggle’ shines as a celebration of affection and acceptance and reassures readers that they aren’t alone.”
Bullying — it’s a troublesome however essential subject of debate in youngsters’s books. We don’t like to consider it, however the truth is that bullying is a actuality that many younger youngsters face. In relation to prevention, the primary tactic is to show youngsters kindness and compassion. However what do we are saying to youngsters who’re already coping with bullies? How can we reassure them that brighter days are forward?
Milt Lowe — writer of My Ant Mary, Milo and the Large Yawn, and Wow Bow, the Canine Who Barked Backwards — has a solution in his newest youngsters’s guide, The Hippo Who Hated to Struggle, which was not too long ago acknowledged with a Literary Titan Gold Guide award. This guide, illustrated by Stephen Bibb, tells the touching story of Kuno, a hippo who has hassle becoming in together with his herd. The opposite hippos are rowdy and fierce, particularly Kuno’s 4 brothers. However whereas the remainder of his household is joyful to take part in these violent brawls, Kuno isn’t . He finds the combating pointless and brutal — in his phrases, it “simply isn’t proper.”
This resolution doesn’t fly with the remainder of the herd, nonetheless. Kuno’s brothers mock him, calling him names and making him really feel small and undesirable. At a loss, Kuno decides to take a protracted stroll in order that he can assume in peace. As he wrestles together with his ideas, he wanders additional and farther from his household till he stumbles right into a herd of elephants. The chief, a clever elephant named Zema, takes Kuno into her care and presents to let him journey with them as they seek for water.
Kuno is elated to have discovered a pleasant face in all his wandering. Because the herd travels, Kuno tells Zema about his troubles — about how he doesn’t combat alongside his brothers and the way he feels undesirable by his family. Zema is joyful to lend an ear and reassure her new pal. Nonetheless, as Kuno spends increasingly more time with the herd, it quickly turns into clear that he’s discovered a bunch of kindred spirits. When Zema asks if he’d wish to be thought of “an honorary elephant” and be a part of the herd, Kuno is thrilled! Identical to that, the herd has grown by one member, and Kuno is content material that eventually, he’s discovered a spot the place he really belongs.
Delicate, Scientific and Delicate
Milt Lowe doesn’t draw back from the emotional poignancy of the story or the very actual message of inside because it pertains to the true world. Within the guide’s dedication, he contains this be aware: “to each child who has ever been bullied, teased or tormented however remained courageous and robust until they lastly discovered their herd.” The be aware makes the story of Kuno and Zema all of the extra shifting. Readers are certain to really feel the robust friendship between these two characters and the bond they forge by their travels.
The story doesn’t rely completely on the weighty topic of bullying, nonetheless. Together with its vital ethical classes, The Hippo Who Hated to Struggle weaves scientific data seamlessly all through. Information about elephants and hippos are sprinkled into the prose, like how Zema sleeps standing up, or how Kuno can’t swim so he has to stroll alongside the underside of the river whereas holding his breath. The result’s a narrative that captures the wealthy biodiversity of South Africa, including to the material of the narrative.
Younger readers, drawn in by the science behind the animals and the participating story, will soak up an important lesson about each friendship and therapeutic from bullying. Kuno and Zema make it clear that the folks in your life ought to love you ways you might be, not mould you into one thing you’re not. The Hippo Who Hated to Struggle shines as a celebration of affection and acceptance and reassures readers that they aren’t alone.
About Milt Lowe:
A former copywriter at prime New York Metropolis promoting businesses, Milt Lowe has gained over 60 main awards. Together with each Gold and Silver Lions on the TV Cannes Movie Pageant.
In a Author’s Digest competitors, Milt gained an award of their Private Essay class. He’s additionally written humor items for The New York Each day Information and Promoting Age. Famed cartoon artist Charles Schulz learn a hockey article Milt had written and wrote him a letter—full with a Snoopy doodle—that Milt framed and hung over his desk.
When Choose Judy Sheindlin – whose present attracts a median viewers of about 10 million viewers a day – wrote her first youngsters’s guide, she known as Milt and requested him to jot down the title: WIN OR LOSE BY HOW YOU CHOOSE! Her level was to show youngsters that the alternatives they make as youngsters will decide the adults they grow to be.
Milt has written 4 youngsters’s books, accessible internationally: The Hippo Who Hated To Struggle, My ANT Mary, Fartasaurus, and Milo and the Large Yawn. His middle-grade guide, Wow Bow, the Canine Who Barked Backwards, was not too long ago launched. A brand new youngsters’s guide, Dogg, the Cat, is presently in manufacturing and scheduled to be launched in late 2024.
Publish Date: 7/14/2023
Style: Kids’s Books
Writer: Milt Lowe
Web page Rely: 22 pages
Writer: Igloo Pub
ISBN: 9798985015119