'There's a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake' picture book series has achieved iconic status in Australia. Colorfully illustrated by Deborah Niland, the titles explore the reassurance of having an imaginary hippo friend who accompanies a little girl through all 'first-time' scary experiences like starting school, going to hospital or on holiday, or having a new baby in the family. The books celebrate imagination and self-esteem. Internationally the series has sold over a million copies and has been translated into Japanese. It has crossed media into puppetry, performance, video, audio, music and songs, Auslan (signing) for deaf children and Braille. Nominated by readers as one of the ABC's most popular books of all time, it has won numerous awards and is even painted as a favourite character on the side of a mobile library bus. Originally published by Hodder, when the titles were moved to Penguin in 2004, a line in the first title was queried. At a point in the story where the ...
Journal
The Looking Glass : New Perspectives on Children's LiteratureISSN
1551-5680Volume
12Issue
2Publisher
La Trobe UniversitySection Title
JabberwockyAuthor Biography
Hazel Edwards is an Australian author of over 170 books for adults and children. She writes across media, including picture books, YA novels, and recently she co-authored ex blog Cycling Solo: Ireland to Istanbul with her cartographer son Trevelyan Quest Edwards. In 2000 she was a recipient of the Australian Antarctic Division's Humanities Program berth that took her on the polar resupply voyage to Casey station, Antarctica in 2001 with resulting expedition publications that included animation, scripts, Auslan (signing) DVDs and the picture book Antarctic Dad. Hazel runs Non Boring Writing workshops for genealogists, and web-chats about stories like 'HandMe Down Hippo', crossing media with audio, Braille and visual presentation. In 2006 she was a national Literacy Champion and is on the Australian Society of Authors' committee, co-holding the portfolios for Education and Children's Books. Her books have been translated into many languages and across media into theatre and TV.Date Created
2008-06-26Rights Statement
Essays and articles published in The Looking Glass may be reproduced for non-profit use by any educational or public institution; letters to the editor and on-site comments made by our readers may not be used without the expressed permission of that individual. Any commercial use of this journal, in whole or in part, by any means, is prohibited. Authors of accepted articles assign to The Looking Glass the right to publish and distribute their text electronically and to archive and make it permanently available electronically. They retain the copyright and, 90 days after initial publication, may republish it in any form they wish as long as The Looking Glass is acknowledged as the original source.Data source
OJS data migration 2025: https://ojs.latrobe.edu.au/ojs/index.php/tlg/article/view/86
