Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
When Hilda Hippo dances, the other jungle animals cringe. For "while she danced in utter bliss,/ it sounded quite a lot like this:/ "Ka-bump! Ka-bump!/ Crash! Crash! Smash!" The earth shakes, she tramples plants and kicks up clouds of dust. The animals suggest Hilda try knitting or singing instead, but it's not until the water buffalo recommends swimming that Hilda proclaims, "Now, here's a hobby/ I adore.../ Water ballet dancing!" Although Hilda wears plenty of extravagant dance costumes, Wilson's (Bear Snores On) descriptions sometimes strain: "While Hilda danced flamenco/ in her favorite pair of heels,/ bananas fell in gooey heaps,/ shaken from their peels!" Watts's illustrations create a fantasy jungle full of bright flowers and cartoon animals, but Hilda's pink Homer Simpson-style muzzle maintains an almost uniform expression. The ending scene of Hilda performing water ballet ("Swisha-swisha clap! Clap!") provides a satisfying solution for all-readers and fellow jungle inhabitants alike. Ages 3-7. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-Not since Disney's Fantasia has there been a hippo with so much rhythm and movement. Oblivious to the effects of her heavy footfalls, Hilda dances her way through this picture book, tearing up the jungle and having a grand time. While her frustrated neighbors wish she would find an activity a little less jarring, the creature just can't seem to stop. After brief forays into knitting and singing, Hilda and the animals finally come up with a clever compromise. Watts illustrates this cartoon jungle with a palette of vibrant tropical colors and creates bold and humorous images that further energize an already active text. Told in rhyme with plenty of onomatopoeia, this delightfully noisy story is nonstop fun.-Julie Roach, Malden Public Library, MA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Although hippopotamus Hilda loves to dance, the other jungle animals hate it when she dances because she's loud and clumsy. Hilda tries to appease them by taking up quieter hobbies, but nothing satisfies her like dancing+until she discovers water ballet. The flowing, rhymed text and cheery illustrations filled with bright jungle colors and animals create an enjoyable read-aloud. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Hilda the hippo joins the corps of cows, pigs, chickens, and other terpsichorean livestock currently capering across picture-book pages. As in her deservedly popular Bear Snores On (2002), Wilson's verse swings fetchingly: "And while she danced in utter bliss, / it sounded quite a lot like this: / KA-BUMP! KA-BUMP! CRASH! CRASH! SMASH!" Watts depicts a wide-bodied, Martha-like (as in George and, not Graham) blue hippo, arrayed in leotards, Carmen Miranda wear, disco pants, and more, stylishly lumbering across leafy landscapes as various African creatures look on in dismay. Having, at the request of these last, sampled and rejected less seismic avocations ("Hilda tried to sit and knit. / She didn't like it, not one bit") she, along with her relieved audience, finds the perfect venue at last--in water ballet. Move over Olivia, Clorinda, Angelina, Red, and all you others. (Picture book. 7-9) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
