The true story behind it
My son went through a phase where his favorite thing in the world was his toy kitchen. He wanted to be a chef. Then one day at school, some boys teased him that cooking is “a woman’s job.” He came home stung. So I wrote Harvey, a hippo who loves ballet, even though hippos aren’t exactly built for it. The message I wanted him to hear: you get to love what you love, and do it your own way, no matter who says it isn’t for you.
What happens in the story
Harvey the hippo has always wanted to be a ballet dancer. He tries to stand on one leg and keeps falling down with a loud thump. “I’m too big and clumsy,” he says. The ballet moves he loves are light and fancy, and he feels like the opposite.
Kitty and Dino try to help him dance the usual way. Kitty shows him where to put his feet, and he wobbles and falls. She softens the ground so he can stand, but he still can’t twirl. Dino grows vines to hold, but Harvey says real dancers don’t need vines. Then Kitty has a better thought: maybe they’re trying to make Harvey dance like everyone else.
So they make a hippo ballet, just for him. Kitty makes a pool of water, and Dino grows water lilies and cools patches of the pond for sliding. Harvey splashes and glides, the forest animals cheer, and an old turtle says, “That was the best dance I ever saw!”
Looking for a children’s book about hippos?
Hippos rarely get to be dancers in picture books. Harvey is a shy hippo in a tutu who loves ballet more than anything.
What makes it work is that nobody shrinks Harvey to fit the dance. They change the dance to fit Harvey. That’s a lovely thing for a kid who feels too big, too loud or too different for the thing they love.
Look inside
Flip through the opening pages of the book.
Questions to ask after reading
A few questions for the minute after the book closes. There are no wrong answers.
- Harvey said he was too big and clumsy for ballet. Do you ever feel that way about something you love?
- What did Kitty and Dino change so Harvey could dance?
- If you made up your own special dance, what would it look like?
Perfect for
- ✓ The kid who loves something others say isn’t “for them”
- ✓ Gently pushing back on “boys do this, girls do that”
- ✓ Talking about inclusiveness and chasing your own dream
- ✓ A birthday gift for a kid marching to their own beat
Quick answers
Cheer on the kid who loves the “wrong” thing
One short story. One ballet-dancing hippo. Ready for tonight.
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