An enchanting tale by Margaret Mahy about a small, ordinary boy who is followed home by a most extraordinary animal - and that is just the beginning!

Margaret Mahy’s classic story about a boy who brings home a hippopotamus quite by accident, illustrated by Steven Kellogg.

‘What on earth is that in the goldfish pool?’ asked Robert’s father. ‘It is a hippopotamus, Father,’ said Robert. ‘Really,’ said the father. ‘People should keep their hippos chained up and not allow them to go climbing into other people’s goldfish pools.’

When a hippo follows him home one day, Robert is pleased - but his parents are not! As more and more hippos crowd into the garden they turn to a witch for help.

Detailed line and pastel drawings by Steven Kellogg, and a deliciously understated text, combine in a very funny picture book by one of New Zealand’s finest children’s writers.