I love Boynton’s artwork, with it’s clean lines and bright colors and familiar characters, and I know small children are drawn to them also. The rhyming text is in large print, with only a sentence or two per page, but I think this book really needs to be paired with Hippos Go Berserk, it’s obvious companion, in order for the story to make much of an impact. So if you have that one, and your readers are familiar with it, then this one would make a nice contrasting story. As a stand alone, it’s a bit flat, just describing two hippos having a rather calm day, and then inviting a couple friends over in the evening, and when more friends show up, the calm disappears as a party ensues. It’s fine, but is better when paired with the other to provide context.