BOOKS

HIPPO
YA CONTEMPORARY

Seventeen-year-old aspiring doctor and part-time baker Langston Bowers has always wanted to help people. From her free-spirited dad to her troublemaking younger brother and their resource-strained family bakery, Langston puts everyone else first. When her dad is diagnosed with early onset Parkinson’s Disease, the bakery’s future looks bleak. But when he’s prescribed medical marijuana, the Bowers family has hope.

After Langston realizes medical marijuana can bring relief to others, including her best friend’s sick mom, an idea dawns. Maybe Langston can help those in her community who don’t have access to healthcare or aren’t finding relief with traditional medicine. Langston views this as a win-win: She can help people in need while generating income to support her family and pay for her college deposit. The only problem? It’s illegal, and Langston has her future to lose.

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Determined to not get caught, Langston, with the reluctant help of Luke, the bakery’s newest assistant, bakes and sells edibles from her dad’s stash through the bakery’s storefront. Langston brands herself “Hippo” after the Hippocratic Oath, amassing a client list of patients who fit her criteria. But not everyone approves of Langston’s side hustle, and no matter how pure her intentions, trying to change a broken system by breaking the law isn’t the solution.

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HIPPO tells the story of a modern vigilante in her own mind, doing what she thinks is right, knowing that it's wrong.