Mister H.

K-Gr 3—This short chapter book chronicles the adventures of Mister H, a hippopotamus, as he escapes from the zoo and attempts to make his way through the city and back to Africa. No one seems to be fussed about a hippopotamus talking or meandering about on his own, as Mister H first asks an unsuspecting student on a field trip to release him (which she does), then crashes into a storefront (where the shop owner scolds him for nearly breaking his window), and creates chaos as he crosses a busy street. A set of grandfathers even let their two small grandsons play with Mister H in the park and fountain. Perhaps all this blithe unconcern is because "everyone goes around doing their own thing, without thinking about their neighbor," as Mister H observes early on in the story. After consuming an enormous meal at a pizzeria (for which he cannot pay and is shown amazing kindness when the waitress comps the meal), Mister H finds himself back at the zoo, no closer to finding his home than when he started. The retro-style illustrations add whimsy and humor to the tale. The long-winded, quite sophisticated descriptions of sprinklers, animal species, and a rude woman at the pizzeria, may make this title a head-scratcher for more literal-minded young readers.