Hoppel (GR: Hopper)

Hoppel

by Marcus Pfister

Even though he doesn't like the cold snow, Hopper, a little hare, enjoys playing with a friend and the adventure of searching for food with his mother.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Rabbits, Nature, Animals

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Marcus Pfister was born in Berne, Switzerland, and began his career as a graphic artist in an advertising agency. In 1983, he decided to dedicate more time to artistic pursuits, and began to write and illustrate his first book, The Sleepy Owl, which was published in 1986. His best-known work to date is The Rainbow Fish, which has remained on bestseller lists across the United States since 1992.

Marcus does most of his illustrations for children's books in watercolors. He begins each book by stretching watercolor paper over a wooden board so that it won't warp when wet. He then copies his rough sketches onto the paper in pencil. At this point, he is ready to begin painting. For backgrounds and blended contours, he uses wet paint on wet paper to get a softer effect. For sharper details, he first lets the paper dry, then paints the final picture layer by layer. When the illustration is complete he cuts the paper from the wooden board.

For books that feature holographic foil stamping, he then tapes a piece of transparent film over the art and indicates with a black marker where the foil stamping should be. The foil stamping is then applied during the production process after the pages are printed and before the final binding.

Marcus and his wife, Kathryn, work together in Berne, where they live with their three children.

Reviews

[Hendrix]

Weird one! Very odd and scattered plot. We are introduced to Nick, but then he doesn’t feature in the rest of the story. Wolves peeking out of the woods in one illustration imply that Hopper and his mama will have to run and hide like they did from the falcon, but no, those never get mentioned. Cute rabbits though! 🐰

[Kerri]

Pointless story of a baby rabbit's day. So boring, though the pictures are pretty.

[Errolynn]

Hopper was written by Marcus Pfister and published by First Scholastic, inc. in January of 1996. This book is 24 pages long, with a lexile level of 620, making this book a GRL M. This book is appropriate for readers in grades prek-2.
Hopper is a very lazy bunny. He would rather stay home and play with his friends, or sleep, than learn how to find food in the winter snow with his mother. Hopper does not pay attention to his mother when she tries to explain to him how to stay safe. He is almost flown away by a falcon! After that, Hopper pays much more attention to his mother and to the animals around him.
Teaching Idea: Make an anchor chart discussing 3 things that animals do in the winter- Hibernate, migrate, and adapt. Explain what each word means, and ask students what animals they know of that could fit into that category. Then, students can go back through the book and discover what animals are in it, and which categor they fit into. This idea goes along with the CCSS
RL.1.9. With prompting and support, compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in familiar stories.
a. With prompting and support, students will make
cultural connections to text and self.

[Katherine C. Hirstein]

2.5

[Peacegal]

What a strange book. As a character, Hopper is not especially appealing, what with his constant whining and complaining.

Although I liked the ethereal watercolor backgrounds, the artist couldn’t seem to make up his mind whether he wanted to draw realistic or cartoonish animals. An image of a swooping hawk, for example, is just atrociously bad.

[Tyler dean russell]

How do you read it

[Alyssa Smith]

One of my childhood favorites read to West for our first book of the year

[Erin]

A well written tale with real life lessons to learn. I am surprised this book has such a low rating as it is far better than a lot of the fluff put there.

[Angi]

cute story, even if it is a bit odd. It's for kids. amazing pictures,

[Jen]

loved it as a child :)

[The Transmuted Tree]

3rd that day

[Sara Larson]

Genre:Modern fantasy/Picture book
Age: 5 and up
Summary: Hopper is a book about a young hare named Hopper. Hopper is just learning the ways of the woods. As the two travel through the forest, Hopper's mother points out the dangers they face and she teaches Hopper how to be safe in the wilderness.
Reflection: I liked the illustrations in this book. The bunnies were cute.

[Tanja]

...well of course i would love this series by this author....RABBITS, HASEN....more than the story the illustrations are simple stunning ...at least to me....love each and every one in the series...dreamy...want to be a kid again....

[Firstgradejags]

This book helped us write stories about times when our parents helped us learn something new.

[Susanne]

Kindergarteners liked the story and predicting what the rabbits would find to eat in the snow. They especially enjoyed the "four-legged tree" that scares Hopper. The illustrations were fine, perhaps a little washed out. Kids can learn some real facts from the story, even though its main purpose is entertainment.

[Mandi]

I read this to practice my French comprehension. I understood the gist of most of the sentences. The story was just ok; I wasn't engaged enough to look up every word I didn't know. I much prefer Hans de Beer's Plume stories in French.