Sad, Mad, Glad Hippos

Pictures by Vlasta Van Kampen
Key-Porter 2008
ISBN# 1554700086

Key-Porter is a Canadian publisher, and this is how I got to them. My friend Jonathan Schmidt (and ex-editor at Tor) moved to Canada to be married and settle north of the border, and soon became head of trade books there. He introduced me to the children’s book editor, Linda Prussen, hoping I would be able to work with her. I sent her a bunch of stuff and she fell in love with ONE HIPPO HOPS and proposed to make it a board book if I would write two more, about colors and about moods. Well, I love a challenge, and those hippos hopped to it! The illustrations by Vlasta Van Kampen are adorable.

Other books in the series:

• One Hippo Hops
• Hip Hippos
• Sad, Mad, Glad Hippos

What reviewers have said:

• “A flock of hippos run the emotional gamut from morose to mirthful in this offering from one of children’s literature’s most prolific authors. An appropriately rhyming text carries amusing illustrations of gray, lumpy hippos in a variety of postures that reflect the mood in question.” –Kirkus