Hippo Goes Bananas! [Hardcover]

Marjorie Dennis Murray (Author), Kevin O'Malley (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2006 | Age Range: 3 - 5 years | Lexile Measure: 740L (What's this?)

One day, Hippo acts very strange. He bellows, spins in circles, and crashes into a tree. All of his friends think he has gone bananas! But has he? Or does he just have a bad toothache? Kevin O’Malley’s bright marker and colored-pencil illustrations bring to life the animals of the Serengeti as Cuckoo Bird, Monkey, Leopard, Giraffe, Zebra, and Elephant try to figure out how to help their distraught friend. Their off-the-cuff solution brings this cheerful picture book to a humorous conclusion.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 1 Readers know from page one of this delightfully silly cumulative tale that Hippo has a toothache, but his friends have no idea what is bothering him. Cuckoo Bird runs off to tell Monkey that Hippo is going bananas and is knocking down every tree in the jungle and Monkey runs off to tell Leopard, etc. By the time all of the animals reach Hippo, the story is that he is flooding the Serengeti with trees. His pals decide that the agitated creature has skeeter fever and needs to be cooled off in the river, so they give him a great big HEAVE-HO PUSH…. In two energetic vertical spreads, Hippo thumps and klumps down the mountainside into the water, where, finally, out pops the offending molar. The toothache is gone, but now the protagonist has a headache…. O'Malley's marker-and-colored-pencil drawings are goofy and expressive, with a variety of perspectives ranging from a close-up of Hippo's mouth, to a furiously dashing parade of animals, to the split panels of Hippo's bumpy trip down the mountain. This is great fun as a read-aloud for storytime or one-on-one sharing, and beginning readers will enjoy it as well. Shelley B. Sutherland, Niles Public Library District, IL
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

One morning, hippo wakes up with a toothache and it hurts so much that he spins in a circle and crashes into a tree. Cuckoo Bird sees this extraordinary behavior and she flies off to tell Monkey. Of course, as so often happens when a story is told, things get rather exaggerated. Cuckoo Bird tells Monkey that Hippo is “knocking down every tree in the jungle,” and for good measure she adds “and…kicking them off the cliff.” Monkey runs off to tell Leopard the news, who hears that Hippo is not only knocking down all the trees and kicking them off the cliff, but he is also “rolling them into the river.” By the time Zebra hears about this calamity, the story is that Hippo has knocked down the trees, thrown them off a cliff, rolled them into the river, which is now dammed up so that the Serengeti is flooding! What on earth are the animals going to do about Hippo and his bizarre behavior? What will happen to their world if he is allowed to run amok? Children are sure to laugh out loud when they see how Hippo’s story grows and grows as it is retold again and again. They will also laugh when they see how the problem is resolved and what happens in the end. With comical illustrations and an amusing story, this board book is sure to be a big hit with young children. -Marya Jansen-Gruber, Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Review --This text refers to the Board book edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Age Range: 3 - 5 years
  
• Hardcover: 64 pages
• Publisher: Two Lions (March 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761452249
• ISBN-13: 978-0761452249
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 10.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #234,484 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Experts at Indiana's University Elementary say... March 30, 2013

By Gary Taylor VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

While I usually read and review adult books, with grandsons now of reading age I decided to accept a couple of children's titles to provide a different twist on these reviews. Instead of me stumbling through the books, I thought: Why not contact the experts? So, I gave HIPPO GOES BANANAS to my seven-year-old grandson, Truman Carpenter, and told him, "Take it to school."

He returned a few days later with reviews from his first-grade classmates and their teacher, Vivian Schroeder, at University Elementary in Bloomington, Indiana. Writing individual reviews in pencil on notebook pages, nine of 11 classmates gave the book five stars, one gave it four and another gave it three.

"Several students didn't catch the `telephone' aspect of what was happening each time a different animal told Hippo's story," said Schroeder. "They just take it at a literal level, so you can get some great imagery until you realize none of those horrible things happened. Hippo just has a toothache until the accidental solution at the end."

That ending prompted the four-star assessment from one young reviewer, who wrote, "I don't like the end. The story does not tell how giraffe, leopard, elephant and everybody else helped Hippo with the headache."

The book's three-star assessment came from a discerning young reader who elaborated in a note calling HIPPO GOES BANANAS "a really good book." Because she had heard the story before, she said it was not a surprise to her.

One youngster summarized his five-star rating with the note: "I think the story is excellent because Hippo knocks down the trees. To me, Hippo is very funny."

Adding my observation, I used the book as an opportunity to discuss and explain the dangers of gossip when I first helped Truman read it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Really Cute book! March 24, 2013

By Laura

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

A love of hippos prompted the purchase of this book for the kids, so we sat and read it with them and they loved it. The illustrations are very well done, and the story was well paced and kept them interested. I would definitely recommend this for others.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars My granddaughter loves it! March 19, 2013

By Christy Tillery French VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Hippo Goes Bananas isn't a children's book with a moral but it's humorous and brightly illustrated and one of my granddaughter's favorite bedtime stories. Although she can't read, she certainly can follow the story through the illustrations and likes to embellish it a bit with her own imaginative creations.