Young Hippo Funny
Chris D'Lacey (Author)
Philip Reeve (Illustrator)
Young Hippo Funny
Scholastic UK
ISBN 9780590193863
This book was a wonderful little surprise. I have been slowly tracking down and reading all of Chris d'Lacey's books. I fell in love with his writing less than a year ago and have now read 20 books by him. And to find that Philip Reeve did the illustrations for this book almost 20 years ago only added to the delight. In some ways this books reads like an Adrian Plass or Adrian Mole journal, except it is written by about a school aged boy and not told in first person. But the style has a lot of that feel to it.
My son and I have read through this book twice now and he loves it. He loves the story of Henry, he love the black and while pen and ink style illustrations by Philip Reeve. And I believe this is one of the earliest books Reeve is credited as illustrating.
Henry does not like Wednesdays, and that might be the biggest understatement. The reason being is water. And not just water but specifically physical education and swimming lessons. But soon Henry discovers he has an amazing skill, he can hold his breath for long periods of time. So he starts sitting on the bottom of the pool and ignoring class, skips doing lengths. But all good things do come to an end, one fateful day so entrenched in his game his misses everyone else getting out of the pool. So soon his problems start piling up.
This was a very humorous little read. Chock full of illustrations on every page and some whole pages also. It is in part a story about overcoming, and learning to believe in yourself. But for the most put it is just a great clean fun read. Excellent for reading with children or to them.
Spaloosh, Spaloosh, Spaloosh! Hazah!
Books by Chris d'Lacey:
Dragons of Wayward Crescent
1 Gruffen (2009)
2 Gauge (2008)
3 Glade (2009)
4 Grabber (2010)
The Erth Dragons
1 The Wearle (2015)
2. Dark Wyng (2016)
3. The New Age (2018)
The Last Dragon Chronicles with David Rain
1 The Fire Within (2001)
2 Icefire (2003)
3 Fire Star (2005)
4 The Fire Eternal (2007)
5 Dark Fire (2009)
6 Fire World (2011)
7 The Fire Ascending (2012)
Rain and Fire: A Guide to the Last Dragon Chronicles (2010)
The Unicorne Files
1 A Dark Inheritance (2014)
2 Alexander's Army (2015)
3 A Crown of Dragons (2016)
Fly, Cherokee Fly Series
Fly, Cherokee Fly
Pawnee Warrior
Other Books
Henry Spaloosh!
Horace
Shrinking Ralph Perfect
The Snail Patrol
The Table Football League
Riverside United
Lofty
From E to You
Scupper Hargreaves, Football Genie
The Salt Pirates of Skegness
Falling for Mandy
The Prompter
Picture Books:
A Hole at the Pole
Juggling with Jeremy
A Break in the Chain
Read With Bubble and Float
Dexter's Journey
Frankin's Bear
Contributed to:
On Me ‘ead, Santa
Nice One, Santa
The Usborne Book of Christmas Stories
Heroes and Villains
In the Frame
Midnight Feast
Author Profile and Interview with Chris d'Lacey.
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