Hairy Hezekiah

by Dick King-Smith

Hezekiah is a very hairy camel. He lives alone in his enclosure at the zoo and, although you'd never guess it, he's lonely. After an absent-minded zoo keeper leaves the gate open one night, Hezekiah goes on the run - rampaging through the English countryside, running through hedges, hiding in the Ladies loos, and finally breaking into a safari park! There he meets another rather hairy character - and makes a friend...

Genres: Childrens, Animals

96 pages, Hardcover

First published August 4, 2005

About the author

Dick King-Smith was born and raised in Gloucestershire, England, surrounded by pet animals. After twenty years as a farmer, he turned to teaching and then to writing children's books.

Dick writes mostly about animals: farmyard fantasy, as he likes to call it, often about pigs, his special favorites. He enjoys writing for children, meeting the children who read his books, and knowing that they get enjoyment from what he does.

Among his well-loved books is Babe, The Gallant Pig, which was recently made into a major motion picture, and was nominated for an Academy Award.

Dick lived with his wife in a small 17th-century cottage, about three miles from the house where he was born.

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

The early scenes from the zoo are enough, I hope, to ensure that every reader of this book works to end the use of the more confining cages and paddocks. Yes, it's a book for young children, but even with the author's light touch the despair comes through. But mostly it's a cheerful story, with interesting adventures that lead up to a happy ending on the hairy Earl of Basin's estate with his Safari menagerie. I know that when I was a child I would have loved the glimpses of what might happen behind-the-scenes at a zoo. And I would have been quite vocally against zoos and in favor of refuges or at least parks like San Diego or Apple Valley instead.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute story. As I love camels, couldn't resist picking this up for the grandkids.

[Sean Harding · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another animal yarn from DKS and this is my fourth read of the great man and his many yarns, short and sweet well told and fun to read. It is not often you read a book about a camel, and even less often when the Camel is festoon with the moniker Hezekiah, but there you go. This is a good read for all ages, because DKS is like that!

[Indah Threez Lestari · Rating 3 out of 5]

574 - 2019

[Joanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A light one-day read-aloud just right for reading on the sunny back steps. Or a good chapter book to hand to an early reader.

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bland, insipid little book about how the camel Hairy Hezekiah escapes from the zoo and blunders off in search of a pal. He ends up at "Shortseat", where there is a safari park run by a nobleman in wildly colourful, eccentric clothes.

All well and good, but if you've ever seen any episodes of the BBC's "Animal Park" minidocs, you recognise Longleat, its animals, and its resident eccentric the Marquess of Bath. He didn't impress me in person (works too hard at being weird), and the book just seemed like sycophantic sucking up. The illustrations give it all away: the house is most definitely Longleat and the nobleman is indeed the MB. Basically an ad for the safari park/stately home. Obviously done with the firm's blessing. Ugh.

So yeah...I've come to the conclusion that King-Smith only has two books that are of any real interest to the average reader, and this isn't one. A star and a half.

[Abby Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hezekiah is the only Bactrian camel in the zoo. He's lonely and he's sick and tired of only talking to himself. So one day, Hezekiah decides to escape from the zoo and go off to find some animals to be his pals. It's not as easy as he thinks! The first animals he runs into are the lions. Friendly enough until they let slip that they might eat him if he steps foot inside their cage. Next are the monkeys... terribly rude... And so Hezekiah continues in search of friends... maybe a nice big place to live... and maybe another camel to share his days... Will he ever find what he seeks?

A funny early chapter book that will appeal to animal lovers. The story is a bit old-fashioned, but not in a bad way. This would be a good one to hand to younger kids with higher reading levels.

[Misty · Rating 4 out of 5]

We checked this out of the library and it's a great short read. About 8 chapters, I think. It took Ellery and I about 1/2 hour to read, so it's a nice cuddle on the couch together book. Cute story about freedom and friendship.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This surprising little chapter style book was kinda funny. In the end the Animals end up at a refuge place after breaking out of the zoo. Hezekiah meets his love as well through the animal owner's consideration for his animals.

[Cynthia Egbert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite cute. I have a challenge. If anyone reads this book (your kids will love it as a read aloud) and finds the, admittedly quite obscure, reference to a Shakespeare character, you will win a decent surprise!

[Stacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hezekiah is the only camel in the zoo. He's very lonely so he runs away to find some friends. Hezekiah has a journey and final finds a home and friends.

[Shelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun read! Hezekiah is a bactrian camel who doesn't want to be alone in the zoo anymore. His adventures when he gets out of his zoo paddock and meeting his new friend, the Earl.

[DeNae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute little story to read with Elliot, but certainly not one of the better books I've shared with the kiddos.

[Martha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another endearing King-Smith book for animal lovers!

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

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