a thoughtful hippopotamus is who is you

Finally, something written by Chris Rascka that I liked! The Blushful Hippopotamus is cute. It's just cute. It's about Roosevelt the hippopotamus whose sister is just evil to him. He's either really dumb or really young, but she rubs his face in every mistake he makes which causes him to blush. Finally, after enough abuse, Roosevelt asks his best friend Lombard the bird (stork?) if he really is a blushful hippopotamus. And wouldn't you know it? That Lombard knows exactly what to say to make Roosevelt's mean sister shrink (literally, she gets smaller and smaller) and his confidence swell. The best part, is that you get the feeling Lombard's being honest. He's not telling Roosevelt that he's the best Squash player in town or anything, but, rather, that he's thoughtful, hopeful, skillful, and wonderful! In the end, Roosevelt responds with a simple heartfelt thanks and he and Lombard hug. At least I think it was heartfelt. I mean, that's what I gathered from the illustrations. This book was funny for some reason. Maybe it's the sister's use of 'applesauce', 'pish posh', 'pooh', and 'it is to laugh' (whatever THAT means) in place of bul--loney...as she gets smaller and smaller in size. Maybe it's Lombard's silly sentence structures (a skillful hippopotamus is what it is you are, etc.). Really, it just kind of warmed my heart...and made me a little mad at my own friends.

Raschka's illustrations here are a lot like the ones for Waffle. The characters are blobs of colors with their bodies drawn on top.