Product reviews for Harry the Hypno-potamus

This book will appeal not only to those therapists who work with young children but to young children in general as its format is that of a colourful storybook, all about the Ashland Zoo and its inhabitants, both human and animal. Linda Thomson has very cleverly incorporated the names of many professionals within the therapy field into the stories. For instance, the Zoo's dentist is called Dr. Kay, after Kay Thompson, while Milton Erickson lends his name to the Cheetah in one of the stories. D. Corydon Hammond, editor of "the big red book", Handbook of Hypnotic Suggestions and Metaphors, with which many of you will be familiar turns up as a thumb-sucking chimpanzee called Cory. Each story deals with a different childhood problem and is designed to gently reprogram the child's subconscious, without letting them know they're actually receiving therapy.

As I wasn't quite sure what age-group the stories would appeal to, I left the book lying around for my grandsons to investigate as I know their curiosity wouldn't allow them to ignore a new book for long. The seven-year-old began to read it as soon as he saw it and was still reading a couple of hours later making no reference to the fact that hypnosis was mentioned in every story! I casually asked him what he thought of the book and he just said "It's good". When I offered it to the older boy aged twelve he rejected it as too babyish but I did mention to him one or two of the techniques in it, which he found very interesting.

I'm sure that many of these clever stories could, with slight changes be used with adult clients, particularly when they have regressed to childhood. All in all, I believe this book would prove to be as useful a resource for working with children as "the big red book" has been for working with adults all these years.