It's All Relative! Big Little Hippo by Valeri Gorbachev

LITTLE HIPPO WAS THE YOUNGEST IN THE FAMILY. HE WAS THE SMALLEST, TOO.

To Little Hippo it seems that everyone is big except him.

His brothers and sisters are big. His mother and father are bigger. The other animals at the watering hole are really big, too.

Old Crocodile isn't tall, but he is very, very long. Giraffe isn't so long, but he is very, very tall. Elephant is very, very big and long and tall.

"EVERYONE IS BIGGER THAN ME," GRUMBLED LITTLE HIPPO.

"MOMMY, WHY AM I SO LITTLE?"

Mommy tries to reassure her baby that he will grow just as big as his father someday, but Little Hippo just wants to BIG right now!

A little sulky, Little Hippo stomps off to get away from all the big ones, but he finds the grass around the watering hole is taller than he is, too, and the trees are so tall he can hardly see where they end near the sky. Little Hippo dejectedly hangs his head so low it practically touches the ground.

But looking down, he sees someone way smaller than he is. It's a little beetle, lying on his back, waving his legs helplessly in the air. Poor little bitty Beetle! Little Hippo can help! He nudges the little beetle with his nose until the little creature turns back over on his feet.

"WOW! THANK YOU, BIG HIPPO!" HE SAID.

Suddenly Little Hippo sees himself in a new perspective. It's all in the point of view, in Valeri Gorbachev's simple little story of a changed self-concept, Big Little Hippo (Sterling Books, 2017). This is a simple little story with a big theme that size and importance are relative to whom you're with and what you do, a lesson which youngsters need as they (slowly) grow up. With his old-fashioned soft and rounded illustrations done in smudgy blackline drawings and pastel palette, Gorbachev's is a sweet and soothing message that even little ones can make a difference for those around them. "The story has just the right amount of predictability and repetition to engage young readers and encourage participation," says Kirkus Reviews.