Narrated by young Tibor, this poignant picture-book explores the life of one Hungarian family before and during World War II, and their relationship to the hippopotamuses in the Budapest zoo. Although the family enjoy Sunday outings every week, Tibor and his siblings, Gabor and Eva, particularly love to go to the zoo and see the hippos. Kept warm by the hot springs in the city, the hippos are a popular attraction, and none more so than Hanna, a friendly (and very hungry) female hippo. But then the war comes, with soldiers everywhere, and the family stop visiting the zoo. A terrible winter leaves the rivers frozen, and the hippos huddling in their indoor enclosure, in danger of slowly starving to death. Fortunately, Tibor's Papa has an idea, and soon the citizens of Budapest are donating their straw slippers, doormats and hats to keep the hippos alive...

Apparently based upon true events, related to author Trish Marx when she was visiting the Budapest zoo, Hanna's Cold Winter presents an engaging family story, and a deeply moving historical drama. Tibor's family are ordinary people—his father works at a paprika factory—who find themselves caught up in terrible times. Despite this, they think of the welfare of the animals that they love, and act to save them when they are threatened. I really enjoyed the story, from the loving closeness of the human family, to the happy outcome for the hippos. I also greatly appreciated the artwork (it looks to be done in watercolor) from illustrator Barbara Knutson, who visited the Budapest zoo in order to create the visuals here. I did find myself wondering about the nutritional value of old straw—can straw-eating animals subsist on straw hats and mats, in emergencies?—and discovered, in the course of online searching, that the fate of the Budapest zoo animals during WWII was rather grim. Apparently the zoo was bombarded during the siege of Budapest, destroying most of the buildings and killing the majority of the animals. In the aftermath of the siege, the starving citizens ate most of the survivors, with only 15 animals of an initial 2,000 surviving the period. I looked on the zoo's history page for any mention of the story of Hanna and the hippos, but was unable to find it.

Trish Marx's brief afterword here mentions that more than 9,000 straw items were collected from the citizens of Budapest, in order to feed the hippos, and that Hanna and the hippos survived the war, so perhaps they were among those lucky fifteen. I realize it is outside the scope of the fictional story here, which is meant to be more uplifting—hope in dark times, and so on—but I wish that the author has elaborated on the larger story in her afterword. I also wish that she had provided a written source, rather that just stating that the story was told to her. All that being said, I still enjoyed this one, and recommend it to picture-book readers looking for stories set during World War II, or featuring the sadness of people and animals caught up in conflicts. ( )

As a sucker books that use unconvetional ways to teach about history, Hanna's Cold Winter stole my attention. Hanna is a hippo at the zoo in Hungary during WWII. During her time in the zoo, the city become overun with Germans, and the animals at the zoo begin to starve. The townspeople love their beloved hippos inthe zoo, so they begin to take their straw mats and shoes to the hippos to keep themfrom starving, while under German occupation. I think this is a great way to teach children about the hardships people faced durring WWII, and how the kindness of people can change lives. ( )

This story, based on true events, details the cold winter Budapest experienced during WWII, and the measures taken by the town's people to save the hippos at the zoo. This heart warming story is aimed to appeal to young readers, grades K-2nd.