Eleanor the Hippo Learns to Tell the Truth by Andy McGuire: Book Review

I have in my hands a delightful book for children ages 3 - 8.  Beautifully illustrated with whimsical, yet realistic, animals in soft, non-threatening colors.  Eleanor the Hippo Learns to Tell the Truth is about a young hippo "girl" who has a real problem telling tall tales about other animals, and about the truth and how not telling the truth hurts.

Written in loosely structured rhyme, it quickly captures the attention of the young child.  The rhyming nature of the story helps a child to learn words easily and helps to imprint the story more firmly into their young minds. Example:

It's fine to have a conversation
Full of honest information,
But sadly what she'd sometimes do
Is tell a tale that wasn't true. 

So off she went on trembly knees
Working through some strategies,

Eleanor is a gossip and she exaggerates.  She tells tall tales that she makes up about others.  In other words she has trouble with telling the truth.  So one time she tells a lie and it backfires and she learns her lesson.

Valuable lessons can be learned by the young child as they learn that Eleanor has to overcome the trouble of her tall tale telling tongue.  I recommend this lovely book for school and preschool libraries, homes with young children, and church libraries.

About the author / illustrator:  Andy McGuire is a writer, illustrator, and editor. He started drawing animals and people at a very young age and in elementary school would charge fifty cents to do portraits of his classmates. Since then his prices have gone up, but not much. Andy lives in Minnesota with his wife, Becky, and their two children, Charlie and Jane.

ISBN:  9780736926652 
Publisher:  Harvest House Publishers

I was given a copy of Eleanor the Hippo Learns to Tell the Truth by Harvest House Publishers in exchange for my honest review and opinion.