There once was a hippo who escaped from the Singapore Zooand stayed away for many weeks.

Where did he go? What did he do? Why did he come back?

Award-winning duo Alan John and Quek Hong Shin return withtheir fourth picture book to tell you the story of Harry Hippo and all hisanimal friends.

It all starts when Harry gets bored one day and sneaks offfor a holiday. Harrys friends have fun imagining all the things anadventurous hippo might do. Is Harry at the cinema? Has he seen the Merlion?

Harry, though, despite having met several new animals whileon holiday, realises that he misses his friends and his favourite food and thatits time to go home.

This lively and entertaining story was inspired by Congo,the hippo who slipped out of the Singapore Zoo in early 1974 and evaded capturefor more than 40 days. Children can find out more about Congo at the back ofthe book, in fact pages that include archival photographs and newspaperclippings. There are also pages with information about hippos and vocabularyboxes to support less confident readers.

Harry Hippos Holidaywill delight wildlifespotters as the illustrations contain no fewer than 15 types of animals,including a banded krait, a purple heron, an Asiatic softshell turtle and acolugo.

About the Author

AN AWARD-WINNING PARTNERSHIP

Harry Hippos Holidayis Alan John and Quek HongShins fourth book.

Their first book,The One and Only Inuka, about the Singapore Zoosbeloved polar bear, won the Popular Readers Choice Awards 2019 in thechildrens English books category.

Their second collaboration,UbinElephant, was inspired by the true story of a wild elephant on PulauUbin in 1991. It was a finalist for Best Picture Book at the Singapore BookAwards 2022.

Their third book,GrandmasTiger, another tale from real life, when a tiger was spotted on PulauUbin in 1997, won both the Hedwig Anuar Childrens Book Award 2024, PictureBook category; and the Best Picture Book title at the Singapore Book Awards2023. It was selected for The International Youth Librarys prestigious WhiteRavens 2023 recommendation list of childrens books.

All four titles are published by Straits Times Press.

Alan Johnis a journalist, a writer and atrainer, and a former deputy editor of The Straits Times. He has written fourchildrens picture books inspired by true events.

Quek Hong Shinis a childrens book author andillustrator. He has written seven childrens books and illustrated more than20.