Big Little Hippo
Written and Illustrated by Valeri Gorbachev
Sterling Children’s Books   4/04/2017
978-1-4549-1906-3
40 pages    Age 2—5

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Themes: Growing Up, Helping Others, Self-Esteem

Genre: Children’s Fiction Picture Book

Synopsis: “Little Hippo is the youngest and smallest in his family—and sometimes he feels like the tiniest animal in the world. Little Hippo wants to be big right NOW! Then one day while taking a walk, the kindhearted little hippo learns you don’t have to grow up to feel big.” [INSIDE JACKET]

Opening: “Little Hippo was the youngest in his family. He was the smallest, too. His sister was bigger. His brothers were bigger. His mother was bigger. And his father was bigger.”
Why I like this book
~Little Hippo is largely the cutest small hippo I have ever seen.

~The entire Hippo family is terrific, especially their eye’s, which can me great expression is just the movement of their pupils.

~The ink and watercolor illustrations are not cartoonish, but give young children a fair representation of the wild world and the animals in it.

~The test is simple, easy to follow, and easy to remember, allowing young children to recall and read by themselves after just a few times listening attentively to the story.

~Being able to take the book and read it by themselves empowers children and enhances their love of reading.

~Little Hippo learns that size is relative. Showing this to children may help a child wishing to be bigger, or older, so they can learn to accept themselves.

~Children can learn that anyone can be a help to another.

~I love the overall goodness of the story and the wonderful illustrations. Little Hippo really doesn’t change from spread to spread. A slight head movement or eye change is all it takes to give the little hippo personality that pops.
Resources/Activities

10 BIG and Small Activities for Kids are HERE.

LYRICS HERE.

Find more “Perfect Picture Book Friday” reviews at Susanna Leonard Hill’s blog HERE.

BIG LITTLE HIPPO. Text and illustrations copyright © 2017 by Valeri Gorbachev. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Sterling Children’s Books, New York, NY.

Amazon—Indie Books—Sterling Children’s Books

Add BIG LITTLE HIPPO to Your Goodreads Shelf HERE.   More Activities HERE and HERE.

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Illustrations from BIG LITTLE HIPPO by Valeri Gorbachev copyright © 2017 by Valeri Gorbachev. Used with permission from Sterling Children’s Books/Sterling Publishing Group.

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Copyright © 2017 by Sue Morris/Kid Lit Reviews. All Rights Reserved

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Big Little Hippo
Written and Illustrated by Valeri Gorbachev
Sterling Children’s Books 4/04/2017
9781454919063

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