The Bolds

A human couple vacationing in Africa died as they were bathing. A pair of English speaking Hyenas saw their clothes and passports and decided to pretend to be them and move to England. There, they gradually assimilated into human life, and had two children. However, they had to make sure they hid their tails, especially from the grumpy neighbor Mr. McNumpty. They did sometimes long to be normal hyenas, and were excited when they could visit a safari park and talk "animal" with other hyenas. They end up rescuing an old hyena and trying to acclimate him to "human" life. He struggles, but he does end up befriending Mr. McNumpty and they eventually discover his secret. The book has many periodic illustration, and is filled with "hyena jokes" (they are always laughing.) It is a fun story that pokes fun of both our human ambivalence about our neighbors and failure to observe very obvious differences. On the other hand it is a story of how everyone can live together, adopting some common characteristics, while still being themselves.