Hippo Goes Bananas!

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. “[ Hippo Goes Bananas! ] is sure to be a big hit with young children.” — Through the Looking Glass Children’s Book Review Author Marjorie Dennis Murray is a nursery school teacher and the author of three books for children, including Little Wolf and the Moon and The Stars Are Waiting . She lives in Regent Square, Pennsylvania, with her husband and daughter.Illustrator Kevin O'Malley has written and illustrated a number of books, including Little Buggy Runs Away and the Miss Malarkey books by Judy Finchler. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland. Read more