Hippo and Monkey

K-Gr 1—Hippo and Monkey are friends, but they sometimes annoy each other. Monkey drops banana peels in the river, and Hippo roars at him. When Hippo's roaring gets to be too much, Monkey borrows a mirror from a human house and shows him how obnoxious he appears, and the friends make up. This odd little story is marred by one-dimensional characters and shaky internal logic. The storytelling has a wry, adult tone not well suited to its audience. Thick-lined, darkly colored linoleum-cut illustrations portray Hippo and Monkey unattractively and unsympathetically, with their most noticeable traits being Monkey's bare nipples and Hippo's chunky teeth. The emotions do not ring true, and children will find the story confusing. For more compelling stories of animal friendships, stick with Mo Willems's "Elephant and Piggie" series (Hyperion).—Heidi Estrin, Congregation B'nai Israel, Boca Raton, FL