Post-toddlers with a tendency to rush off without attending to basic necessities may benefit from this simply told episode. Only after seeing other youngsters—an elephant, a baby rhino, a lion cub, a zebralet, and a young chimp—bussing their parents does Baby Hippo realize that he neglected to kiss his mother before lumbering off to play. Beginning and ending at a river so deeply green that Mama Hippo can pull off a brief game of hide-and-seek just by submerging, Strevens-Marzo places an array of smiling, familiar African animals into brightly colored natural settings. Baby Hippo rushes back to Mama to rectify his mistake, and is last seen blissfully bumping noses with her. Rare is the lapsitter who won’t want to do likewise after sharing this. (Picture book. 3-5)
