The Hippo Hop

by Christine Loomis, Nadine Bernard Westcott (Illustrator)

Gorillas, hippopotami, wildebeests, lemurs, moles, and other creatures great and small kick up their paws and let down their fur at an all-night party, recounted in a syncopated, rhyming story perfect for chanting aloud.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Poetry

32 pages, Hardcover

First published September 9, 1995

Reviews

[Paxton Bleich · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a rhyming book on how all of the jungle animals get together and party all night at the Hippo Hop. This is a fun interactive book in which all the animals of the jungle do a different sort of dance. They also play instruments to different music. This is a fun book for preschool or lower elementary.The focus of the book is getting all the jungle animals to go to the Hippo Hop. The driver goes around picking everyone up then they head to the Hippo Hop! The book encourages curiosity for a child as they will start to wonder what kind of dance move each animal is going to perform. The book could be connected to a rhyming curriculum. The illustrations are extremely colorful. The illustrations also take up the entire page and go into the next page. So when reading the left and right side are all one picture. It looks like the illustrator used colored pencil or watercolor.

I gave this book 3/5 stars. I feel like there could have been more of a story line. But I do think young children would love the jungle animals and all of the dancing. I think children would be able to easily make the connection as younger children are always wanting to have a playdate of some sort and hang out with their friends. The theme is definitely worthwhile as it is super important to teach children about friendships and what it entails.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was cute.

[Laura Gibbs · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a real cute book that rhymes so it helps teach kids rhyming skills! It’s about all these animals that “when daylight fades, and the workers stop they put on shades for the hippo hop.” All the animals around go to the hippo hop to dance and have a ton of fun together! The elephants wail on the on the slide trombone up and down the scale, and the apes play bass. All of the animals dance around together and sing, wing and swing that tune that’s playing. At the end they leave by twos; the players pack up, the hippos recline in their chairs and they shine and mop the floors. After they doze and relax, the hippo hop will open again!

I thought this book was cute, but not as cute as the others I’ve read. I liked the pictures, but again not as well as other illustrations in other books. I liked that it taught rhyming though to the kids and helped expose them to words they typically probably wouldn’t hear such as hop and animals such as hippos and zebras. Thematically, I feel like this could be used for exposing kids to rhyming or could be used when talking about zoo animals and/or being imaginative.

[Janelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a silly story with animals in funny clothing dancing around and playing instruments, I have a feeling children will enjoy the colors, characters, and the rhythm of the book.

[Kristie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Safari stories