King Hugo's Huge Ego

Chris Van Dusen is our favorite author. The rhymes are amazing and the vocabulary my 3.5 year old learns from the books is incredible. Every time I have to read Pig the Pug (or the million other books with choppy forced rhyming) I want to kill myself. It is so refreshing to read a book by someone with such precise and deliberate word choices. This one is my favorite, but we love Circus Ship, Randy Riley's Big Hit, all the Mr. Magee books, the "If I built" books, and even Hattie and Hudson (which doesn't rhyme but is lovely). Do yourself and your kiddo a big favor and invest in these beautifully written and illustrated books. And next time you are alone at the bookshelf, get rid of a few of the other ones that are cringeworthy!!

I love this book, so cute!

First let me say that the pictures in this book are just amazingly well done, really funny with great colors, great expressions, and appropriate to the story. The story is entertaining, funny, and, yes, even educational. Our whole family including grandparents, parents, and grandkids absolutely love this book. I would recommend it for children 4 years and up. While younger children will love the pictures, this story is probably too long for shorter attention spans. It's nice to have a book that's so creatively done that the parents and grandparents don't mind reading it over and over. You'll love this book, it's a definite winner!

Smart and funny book. It’s full of big words for kids. My 2&4 year old love it. We must have read it at least 200 times. Illustrations are beautiful. Rhymes and reads well.

Once again Chris Van Dusen has created a witty story with incredible illustrations. Fun to read as an adult, too. We met him at a book signing and he spent a ton of time with my kids (ages 4 and 7) talking about his work, asking my kids about their work (my 7 year old brought samples of his work to show Chris! and answering questions even though a few people were lined up. And he signed our whole collection. Great guy, seems to really know his audience. We now have all of his books and there isn't a bad one in the lot. Our fav is probably Learning to Ski with Mr McGee or Down to the Sea with Mr. Magee though its a tough call.

Chris Van Dusen is quickly becoming my 7-year-old’s favorite read-aloud storybook author, and this is another winner. The rhyming text and clever illustrations pull equal weight, which is a hard balance to find in kids’ books. Some families may be bothered that the heroine in this particular story is a witch, but don’t miss out on the author’s other books even if you pass up on this one!

I love all of Chris Van Dusen's books, but this one might be my favorite. It has a great message that I've never seen addressed in a childrens book before. It's about a king who is completely full of himself and who treats others as if they're beneath him. When he ticks off the wrong chick (who's a sorceress) she puts a spell on him that makes his head inflate every time he says something conceded. In the end he finally sees the errors of his ways and becomes a humble and kind king. I think it's such an important lesson to teach our little ones.

Explaining ego is a hard concept for kids who are very psychologically programmed to be self-centered, so the story has required some explaining. That's not against the story or the book at all, but ego isn't actually something physical a kid can touch (it has symptoms that are visible in behavior and things). However, VanDusen did a great job, and our 7 year old recently read The Emperor's New Clothes folk story at school and made the connection of egotistical/vain behavior.

This is one of the best books for children and adults alike. I would give it 10 stars if I could. Kids will love these fantastic illustrations that perfectly follow this very humorous, witty story written in perfect beat and rhyme using rich vocabulary. When my daughter was little I read it to her several times a day, she could almost recite the full thing by herself. And no matter how many times we read it, this book never failed to excite and entertain her! Absolute gem!

This is a book by Chris Van Dusen. It is about a king, Hugo. A very tiny king. He was only three foot three. But he had a very last ego.But when he mistreat the wrong villager, a sorceress - Tessa, the spell she casts literally causes his head to swell.The more he boasts, the bigger it gets, finally toppling the mini monarch right off his castle!He ends up next to Tessa again who was busy stacking grain this time. She deflates his head back to normal, he apologises. It ends like this :'What happens next was kismetyet truly unforeseenhe became a better man,and she became a queen!They ruled the kingdom kindlyin a fair and friendly wayand everyone lived happilyforever and a day'That's pretty how the story goes. In rhymes. Very entertaining story. The rhyming is fun in a sing along fashion. The illustrations are bold and brightly coloured with much detail.I love this book. My kids love it too!Am gonna look for more by this author.