Book Review for Hip, Hippo, Hooray!

Book Review by Allie Davis
MLIS 5603 Literature for Children and Young Adults

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Lewin, Betsy. 1982.  Hip,Hippo, Hooray. Ill. by Betsy Lewin.  New York: Dodd, Mead & Company. ISBN 0396080324

PLOT SUMMARY
100 Hippos, including the Drum major, are playing instruments in a band for the famous Hippo Parade: tubas, bass drum, kazoos, triangles, spoons, and banjos.  One by one, the hippos get too hot and tucker out from the heat.  The first to go is the tuba player, and then the spoon players all decide to get a cool limeade.  As each group drops out of the parade, the ranks close in, but the band is getting smaller and smaller.  Every section drops out until there is only one player left, the hippo playing the bass drum.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
     On a very hot, July day, hippos line a street to celebrate themselves at the famous Hippo Parade.  Through as series of end rhyme and assonance, the author is able to entice readers to continue reading.  End rhyme such as, "Shade/Day/Parade/May" are found throughout the story, with most pages having only two lines per page.  This format is simplistic enough to engage even the youngest of readers.  The rhyme is exact rhyme, not slant or eye rhyme.  This pronounced end rhyme progressively leads to the implied theme of the story.  Each section of the band gives up, as they are dropping like flies (simile), finally leaving only the hippo who is playing the big bass drum.  He is the last one to fall down, but he makes it all the way to the end of the parade line.  The other hippos gather around him and hail him the hero of the day for finishing the parade.  They chant, "Hip, Hippo, Hooray," a cute pun using the title of the story, its characters and the expression, "Hip, Hip, Hooray!"  The subtle theme of finishing what you start and not giving up is implied as the resolution of the story occurs at the end. 
     The end rhyme, which makes the story somewhat predictable, is needed to hold the interest of young readers due to the rather dull, pencil type illustrations of the artist.  The pictures themselves are almost colorless, as the illustrator has used only read, black, and yellow.  They are not extremely attractive or eye-appealing, which could possibly lead to a child's disinterest in returning to the book for a second look.  Nearly all the pictures in the book show the same black-penciled hippos with little variance in their appearance.  This might possibly be why the book has no associated awards and is out of currently out of print.

AWARDS

·       No associated awards found

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

·       No review excerpts found

CONNECTIONS

Gather other Betsy Lewin books to read such as:
·       Good Night, Knight, ISBN 0823433153
·       Where Is Tippy Toes? ISBN 1442436794
·       You Can Do It, ISBN 1283971232
·       Thumpy Feet, ISBN 0823431746
 
 Read also:
·       Maze, Jennifer. Hooray! It's a Duck Day. ISBN 0570050812
·       Smith, Bobby J. Mama Catfis H. ISBN 0533065305


Use as an introduction/unit of study for hippopotami, animals, band/music, or weather/heat.