Library Aunty’s thoughts on reading and children’s imaginations
Earlier this year, I watched Oliver Jeffers read his new book, Imaginary Fred (a collaboration with Eoin Colfer) while under lockdown in the US. Imaginary Fred is a fun and intriguing new look at having imaginary friends, enriched with the added dimension of the imaginary friends’ personal concerns and relationships. Thinking about Fred brought to mind the first imaginary friend character I know – the long adored cake-munching hippopotamus from Australia.
Adult newcomers to this book by veteran children’s book writer Hazel Edwards would probably find the illustrations by Deborah Niland dated looking. In truth, the human characters and their house haven’t worn too well after forty years, but the very large and very pink hippopotamus on almost every page enjoying a variety of activities should still capture their children’s attention and imagination. Unlike Imaginary Fred, who worries about fading away, and who patiently plays everything his human wants him to play, this hippopotamus has his own life and doesn’t appear to have a care in the world.
“He can do what he likes.”
Every time the little girl narrator is not allowed to do something, her imaginary friend immediately does it on the roof, and with great gusto. When the mummy eats just a salad and serves simple sandwiches to the little girl and her brother, the hippo up there is eating cake. In fact, he “eats cake all the time”. Imaginary friends never have to restrict themselves to healthy (and boring) food, and are therefore a target of envy but also admiration.
Imaginary friends are explained in Colfer and Jeffers’ book as usually becoming more real whenever children need them, then fading and floating away when the children no longer need their company or support – in other words, their existence is dependent on children’s emotional needs (Imaginary Fred is a bit different, but that’s another story). It’s interesting to note that the part of the brain involved in processing emotions is called “hippocampus“, so-named because when removed it looks like the mythical “sea-horse”, a relative of the very real “river horse” or hippopotamus, the second largest land animal in the world.
“No one growls at him. He’s too big”.
Edwards’ hippo up there certainly processes the little girl’s memories and emotions of the day. When she has a traumatic fall and cuts her knee, he wears a bandage on his knee for company. When she has to go to bed instead of staying up to watch television, he stays up to watch it on her behalf. When she is in disgrace for scribbling in her daddy’s book, he comforts her by indulging in a scribbling fit with crayons, totally without fear of getting into trouble, as he’s “too big” to be afraid of anyone. Colfer has shared the story of being picked upon as a child, which he dealt with by conjuring up a giant imaginary friend who would remove his bullies for him – his giant serves much the same function.
That hippo up there helps to comfort children when they are sad, allows them to indulge in rebellious thoughts and is a means of vicarious enjoyment of forbidden activities – all in the safety of their own minds, rather than “acting out”. This larger-than-life pink friend helps children understand the uses of an imagination, something we would want our children to develop. When my children were little and when we read stories together, sometimes they would ask questions about things characters did which did not seem to be based on their “real” life, and my answer was often “he’s using his imagination” or “she’s making a picture in her head”. I never had to explain what an imagination was – it was just a thing, and when my children saw book characters using theirs, they had no trouble starting to use their own too, which helped wonderfully with their creative efforts and with learning to empathise with others. When I asked my grown up daughter last year which picture books she thought I should introduce to Singaporean children, There’s a hippopotamus on our roof eating cake was the first title that came to her mind.
That hippo up there has other adventures, going along when the family goes on a caravan holiday, camps on the hospital roof during an illness, turns up at the playground, etc. Always large and pink, and reassuring. And despite his age, I think he’s still delighting his early readers, and is likely a means for them to bond with their children or grandchildren.
I think it would be wonderful if Niland could come up with a set of illustrations to update the settings, or more wonderful still, if Edwards and Niland could collaborate again, and bring that hippo to Singapore in an imaginary “air travel bubble”. This crazy and scary year, many children in hospital or locked down at home could especially have done with having that hippo up there. And I think some adults wouldn’t mind having him comfort them too. Actually, I think I almost saw him today, perched on top of my apartment building. Eating special Singaporean cake, of course.
Library Aunty verdict: A fun classic story to help children find a way to process their negative emotions or to enjoy vicarious experiences. Especially relevant this year for ages 2 to 100+
Relevant links for adults:
Not just a piece of cake: an interview with Hazel Edwards
Censorship by Debate? or the Curious, Electronic E-fair of the “Hippo Smack”
The Library Aunty 