THE AUTHORS SHOW - CHILDREN CATEGORY
Author: Chris Rhodes
Book Title: Hippy the Happy Hippopotamus
MY WRITING JOURNEY... Hippy the Happy Hippopotamus.
Chris Rhodes.
I had always felt an inclination toward the written word, mostly for the stories that were
conveyed by the words, and I was one who could get “lost in a book”, sometimes forgetting to
catch the bus home at the end of a school-day. Some of the books that gripped me as a child
were by Enid Blyton (The Mountain of Adventure, The Island of Adventure and so on), and The
Famous Five. I also remember being absorbed by Robinson Crusoe, for the reason perhaps that
he had to create his own world, as in a way I had to, being an only child and living in an isolated
setting, without other children to play with. I have, nonetheless, grown quite gregarious over
the years, and probably it was this early phase that honed my imagination. On my twelfth
birthday, I opened the wrappings of a chemistry set which drilled the seeds for a career in
science, and later led to my writing the novel “University Shambles”.
When I was 18, I moved into a rather squalid single room to live, but all I could afford at the
time, and which had as a redeeming feature an abandoned volume of poetry, leather bound
with its pages embossed on their edges with gold-leaf, written by Sir Walter Scott. I was
particularly impressed by The Lady of the Lake and The Bridal of Triermain, and I learned the
latter poem by heart. Scott is to my present taste a little on the heavy side, but he was an
inspiration, and I began writing my own poetry at this time. I continued to write poetry for the
next couple of years and then stopped, aged 20, when I went to Sussex University to study
chemistry. I didn’t write any more poetry for about 25 years, when I joined an on-line poetry
site. It turned out that some people liked what I’d written and I was nominated for a poetry
prize, awarded by the U.S.-based Cole Foundation for the Arts, which I won, leading to the
publication of a collection of 45 poems entitled “Fresh-lands.”
I graduated from Sussex University with a good honours degree (having started as a technician
in industry, leaving school aged 16 with virtually no qualifications), to the normal route for one
intending on an academic career: Ph.D, post-doc and then lecturer. Unusually though, I had a
meteoric rise from lecturer straight to professor, aged 34, missing out the intermediate stages
of senior lecturer and reader, which normally take years to pass through, if you ever manage to
make it to the top, since universities are highly reluctant in their promotions and keep you
down as long as possible.
So, the novel, “University Shambles”: why did I write it and what is it about? The “why” is that I
experienced the massive changes that have occurred since 1992, when the polytechnics were
re-labelled as universities, with the creation of a system so appalling that I felt forced to leave
it. I haven’t worked formally in a university for 12 years now, but have done many other things
since, including writing the novel, journalism, blogging, poetry and my first illustrated children’s
picture book, “Hippy the Happy Hippopotamus”. The whole process has been a profound
liberation of the spirit.
One thing I have discovered is that writing a book is comparatively easy. Getting it published is
the real trial. It took me 18 months to write “Shambles” and then three years to find a publisher
for it. Unless you’re in already on the bestsellers list, it’s practically impossible to find an agent
to represent you. In fact, this is fair enough, because the agent doesn’t get paid until the author
does, and if there is no guarantee of lucrative sales, it’s very risky to take on an unknown
author. My words are better known in other circles – science, environmental journalism etc.,
and I’ve been writing for over 30 years - but this was my first novel. Accordingly, I found the
thickening pile of rejection slips entirely disheartening and left the manuscript on my desk,
facing me dolefully for another 12 months. In a galvanised sense of frustration, I decided to go
for broke and wrote to 40 publishers in one fell swoop, which resulted in two of them asking if
they could read my manuscript, and I decided to go with Melrose Books, based at Ely, near
Cambridge. So, finally having the book published, and being able to sign (and sell!) copies of it
at public events - particularly my multifarious talks about sustainability, and where humankind
will get its energy and other resources from in the future, without ruining things for future
generations – is very satisfying.
It was in reflection on “sustainability” that I wrote “Hippy the Happy Hippopotamus,” mindful
that it is the young who will reap the harvest of our present actions. Hippy is a young hippo
with the psyche of a five year old boy, growing-up with his family in Africa. This one is the first
in a series of picture books featuring the adventures of young Hippy as he explores his world
and its changing environment. The books are conceived as part of and to support a larger
project which aims to raise awareness of environmental matters among early readers, while
benefitting disadvantaged and vulnerable young people, through sales of books and related
merchandise. The stories are written with humour, and children can readily identify with
“cheeky” little Hippy and the scrapes he gets into. Themes of friendship, family and cooperation run throughout the stories.
I first wrote them for my niece, when she was about 4, but now she is 20, her interests have
shifted somewhat. In one of those wonderful chains of contact that unite the human family, an
old friend I had not seen for more than a decade got in touch with me, quite out of the blue. I
asked her if she knew anyone who could draw illustrations for some children’s books that I had
written. After some thought, she introduced me to a friend of hers, Jeanette Cole, an artist who
seems able to “see” what was in my mind when I wrote the stories about Hippy, and draw the
most charming pictures to illustrate the text. I hope we may have a long and fruitful
collaboration on this project.