Amazon.com
How dull, to be one hippo all alone... until the one calls two other hippos on the phone. Soon three more hippos are at the door, bringing along another four. Before the night is through, a houseful of hippos (and one beast) has joined the one hippo for a boisterous bash. All through the hippo night,
Hippos play with great delight.
But at the hippo break of day,
The hippos all must go away.
In clusters of nine, eight, seven, six, and so on, the hippos depart, finally leaving the one hippo "alone once more, [missing] the other forty-four."
The well-loved Sandra Boynton wrote this tribute to silliness in 1977, inspiring generations of the very young to learn to count. Lively, cute new illustrations complement this edition, with big numbers (one through nine, and nine through one) boldly placed on the corner of each page. The sturdy board book will withstand lots of eager counting fingers, and maybe even a berserk hippo or two. Boynton's familiar style can be seen in scads of other delightfully nonsensical titles, including Barnyard Dance! and Moo, Baa, La La La!. (Ages 3 to 7) --Emilie Coulter
From Publishers Weekly
One of the silliest, most fun counting books around features "One hippo, all alone, calls two hippos on the phone," until a gang of 45 hippos assembles for a party. Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
Hippos Go Berserk ($14.00, paper $5.99; Oct. 1, 1996; 32 pp.; 0- 689-80854-2, paper 0-689-80818-6): A 20-year-old counting book gets new illustrations featuring, once again, the solitary hippo who invites two friends to what becomes a wild party as groups of three, then four hippos (up to nine) arrive and then depart. Large numerals appear in the corners of the appropriate pages, where the hippos, wearing wonderfully varied expressions, cavort on large expanses of cheery color. Some of the humor will register only with adults, e.g., a hippo portrait pays homage to Whistler. Most of the fun will make perfect sense to preschoolers; give this to a slightly younger audience than those who love Jeff Sheppard's The Right Number of Elephants (1990). (Picture book. 2-5) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Book Description
Here is the classic Boynton counting story in a sturdy, board book version. Perfect for travel time, bedtime, or PARTY TIME!
Card catalog description
Larger and larger groups of hippos join a lone hippopotamus for a night-time party.
Home
