A heart-warming and cosy read that follows a similar structure to the author's first book - What You Are Looking For Is In the Library, providing a gentle, feel-good read with a touch of magic, The short stories weave together to create a plot that's all about healing, community, and the quiet power of everyday kindness. I found this second book a little less profound than the first but it was still an enjoyable read.

The stories follow five different people from the neighborhood and through their stories, you get this lovely picture of how people are all carrying their own struggles, but also how healing can come from unexpected places (like a pink playground hippo).

What I liked most is how down-to-earth and relatable the characters are. Nothing super dramatic happens—no big plot twists—but there’s something really comforting about the way their lives slowly shift for the better. It’s almost like a warm hug in book form.

If you enjoy stories about everyday people, with a little bit of whimsy and a lot of heart, give this one a try. It’s hopeful and charming.

The Healing Hippo of Hinode Park is a warm and gentle story about five people who find hope and healing in a small town park. In the park, there’s a ride shaped like a hippo called Kabahiko. There’s a local legend that if you touch the part of the hippo that matches where you hurt, you’ll start to feel better.

Each of the characters is going through something tough—whether it’s stress, sadness, or feeling lost—and they all visit the park. Through their small moments with the hippo and with each other, they begin to heal and grow.

The book is calm, heartwarming, and full of kindness. It reminds readers that even simple things—a kind word, a small ritual, or a gentle push—can help us move forward.

It’s a quiet and comforting read, perfect for when you need something uplifting.

Thank you, Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book in advance.

'The Healing Hippo of Hinode Park' follows five overlapping lives seeking comfort from a magical hippo ride in their local park. According to urban legend, if you touch it with the area of your body that needs comfort, you will begin to recover. Whether that be your head to bring you confidence or your back to cure chronic pain, the healing hippo will be there to cure your ailments.

One thing I will say about this book is that it felt very 'Japanese literature'. By this, I mean it was a low stakes, wholesome read - none of the issues being had are life-threatening, meaning you feel relaxed reading about the problems and their solutions. It isn't an 'edge of your seat' read, but it's an enjoyable one.

Overall, I felt that although the writing was simplistic, and the characters only really focused on the problem at hand, this was a wholesome and enjoyable read, by an author that I would return to!

This is a short, gentle little book that is effectively a collection of short stories all linked by the hippo in the park. I really like the premise for the story, and the interweaving of the different stories works well. The hippo itself isn't magical, and I liked that the various different characters change their mindsets themselves really, the hippo just provides a focus for that impetus for change. I felt some of the stories worked better than others - or I liked and understood their characters more in some perhaps.
This would have been a higher rating for me except I felt that it was written in quite a juvenile style. It isn't a children's story, but at the start especially that was how it felt, and it was just a little too simplistic in style and slightly jolted - perhaps because of the translation. But it was enjoyable and sweet, and I will be on the lookout for any hippo rides in parks next time I visit Japan!

Family and friends stories revolving around a hippo in a playground.
The hippo is described as a healing tool/power to help what was lost inside themselves whether it be their brain, leg, ears, mouth and personal/working relationships.
The stories are also interconnected with a cleaning service - Sunrise Cleaning owned by a long-living resident in the area, and introduces the residents who enter the shop to Kabahiko, the healing hippo (who's supposed to be orange - not pink as show in the cover).
A couple of the stories are a bit emotional, so make sure to get a few tissues ready.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for letting me read this book!

The Healing Hippo at Hinode Park is Michiko Aoyama’s latest book to be published in English, after her runaway English debut, “What You are Looking For is in the Library”. Falling into the ever growing genre of “healing” literature, The Healing Hippo tells the stories of five different people, young and old, as they navigate life’s challenges, and ultimately look to Kabahiko the plastic healing hippo for peace.

Similar to other novels in the genre, it’s written in episodic form, with each chapter a short story following different characters with their own struggles, but have commonality through Hinode Park. This common thread allows you to explore different stories but feel as though they all tie in quite nicely. I really enjoyed the experience living through the lives of these different people.

That being said, I did find that in some of the cases, the chapters finished before they achieved a satisfying ending. They seemed to stop a few moments before, which almost felt harder to cope with than if they’d been completely unsatisfactory at all. In saying that, I appreciated that the character’s “healing” didn’t seem completely unrealistic, so perhaps they tie in together.

Overall, this book was a quick, easy read, that I enjoyed sitting on the couch after a long book. It was thoughtful and soothing, and had me reflecting on self limiting beliefs. It felt like a warm hug, and I appreciated that a lot.

Thank you to Michiko Aoyama, Random House UK and NetGalley for sharing an ARC with me to read early!

So, if you know, and liked, "What you are looking for is in the library", then you will like this just as much, and in the same way
Little vignettes all linked to the healing hippo.. a littke statue in a children's park, show Japanese people of various ages learning to look at themselves properly to try to "realign" their way of thinking, reacting and, basically living. It seems to be very much Japanese style if storytelling and is a light not too demanding read.
Just as light and charming as its predecessor it nonetheless has some depth and might even lead some readers to examine their own ways of being, perhaps the healing hippo can reach out from the pages of the book!
Thank you NetGalley and Doubleday for an e arc of thus title

'The Healing Hippo of Hinode Park' is a healing book indeed. Presenting various stories of people whose lives intersect somehow, the book does an amazing job presenting human courage and the way we can look at things under a different light and find the answers within ourselves. Therefore, I loved how the author didn't have the hippo being a magical entity and give the story a magical realism twist that most of the books of this genre often do, but had the characters do the work and the hippo work as a placebo to give them strength. The stories were also interesting and different from one another, but heartwarming nevertheless.

**This review was shared on GoodReads and Storygraph

Thank you to Transworld, Penguin Random House for reaching out to me to read this. And thank you to netgalley for the platform to be able to do this.

This was an absolutely beautiful read. I really enjoyed What You Are Looking For Is In The Library so when I got an email offering me a chance to read the ARC of this I jumped at the chance.

We go through 5 different lives of people who live in the same Condo resident, each short story is beautifuly told and they all connect together by a healing hippo.

A go to read if you just want a nice palette cleanser book.

thank you!

By now I think you know what you will get when you read this type of book. Nothing revolutionary, but this does did not make it any less enjoyable. I liked meeting all the characters in the building and going on the healing journey with them. A very quick read and a palette cleanser between heavier books.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

this book was a very easy read, it was cute and I finished in one sitting!
It was very YA feeling which was a nice change of pace

I remember enjoying What You're Looking For is in The Library so I was excited to dive into this!

Overall, this book felt really young. Not even just because 50% of our protagonists were school-age kids. The problems were largely self-inflicted and easily resolved by a little self-awareness or a conversation so I struggled to get invested in, what felt like, very low stakes conflict.
I did like the interconnectedness of the characters and, while the hippo fell a bit flat for me, I appreciated the connection the characters all had through the apartment and the dry cleaners.

The translation was solid, if a little stilted at times. The storytelling was heavy on exposition, which worked in places but I'm not sure the characters had distinct enough voices to stick the landing. The 'Get it?! Because kaba-hiko rhymes with hippo' was repeated in every chapters (twice in the last one). Maybe it was lost in translation but I didn't find this funny the first time, it was downright grating by the fifth.

While at least no one was conversing with the dead in this story, I'd love to see a fresh take on healing fiction. Between What You're Looking For is in the Library, the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series, the Food Detectives series, and the Go-Between series, these stories are all starting to feel the same... and getting a bit stale as a result!

I didn't regret the time I spent with this book but I didn't love it either. . Its huge print and short page count make it a quick read for a quiet afternoon; but, I think it was a bit too young and simplistic to stand out as a new favourite.