I'm trying to find the name of my favorite book from when I was a kid,
and hopefully purchase a copy.  It was about a town (I'm assuming in
Africa) and the townspeople were blaming hippos for destroying the
town at night, but one child proves that the hippos were not
responsible.  At the end the child leads the hippos through the town. 
I think this is accurate, but I may be wrong.  I have no idea when it
was published, but I was born in 1974 and probably started having it
read to me/read it in about 1978/79.  My parents are being no help
with this, although they say it does sound familiar.

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Request for Question Clarification by bobbie7-ga on 15 Feb 2004 21:07 PST

Hi Kraphound!

I located a children?s book that was published in 1959 that may just
be the book you?re looking for.


Does the following sound familiar?

A young boy living in the Congo dreams of capturing the hippopotamus 
that is raiding his village's corn fields.

Please let me know if this is the book you're interested in, I'll be
glad to give you the name and author of the book and where you can buy
a copy of it.

Thanks,
Bobbie7

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Clarification of Question by kraphound-ga on 15 Feb 2004 21:21 PST

I saw that one too, and I don't think it is it.  The cover
illustration doesn't look anything like the style I remember the
illustrations being in, and the plot synopsis doesn't sound right. 
sorry!

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Request for Question Clarification by bobbie7-ga on 16 Feb 2004 07:56 PST

I was not able to locate additional summaries of the book Boloji and
Old Hippo, however here are two different images of it. I don?t know
which of the two you have already seen.


Cover Illustration 1 
http://members.aol.com/hippopix3/boloji.jpg

Cover Illustration 2
http://i3.ebayimg.com/03/i/00/8f/4d/4e_1.JPG

If you recall any other detail about this story, please let us know as
this would help researchers identify the correct book for you.

Thanks,
Bobbie7

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Clarification of Question by kraphound-ga on 17 Feb 2004 18:02 PST

that's definatly not it, if i can rememeber anything else I will add
another clarification.

Your question makes me think of a cute hippo book published in 1975,
though it wasn't set in Africa so probably isn't what you're thinking
of. It does have hippos causing damage by hanging around the boy's
house, and the boy manages to get them to leave.
It was called The Boy Who Was Followed Home, by Margaret Mahy,
illustrated by Steven Kellogg.

!