King Hugo's Huge Ego

by Chris Van Dusen

From a master of visual comedy comes the royally satisfying tale of a head swollen out of proportion and a blowhard brought down to earth.

Hugo is a tiny king with a very large ego. But when he mistreats a villager who also happens to be a sorceress, the spell she casts causes his head to literally swell. The more he boasts, the bigger it gets, until it finally topples the mini monarch right off his castle! Who will cut this royal pain down to size? And, more important, will anyone live happily ever after? Chris Van Dusen’s hilarious story is matched only by his outrageous illustrations. Together, they make for a picture book that is sometimes fairy tale, sometimes cautionary tale, and always laugh-out loud funny.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Humor, Fiction, Fantasy, Fairy Tales, Royalty

40 pages, Hardcover

First published July 26, 2011

About the author

Chris Van Dusen writes: “I was born in Portland, Maine, on St. Patrick’s Day, 1960. As a child, my brothers and I would spend hours drawing pictures. We didn’t have video games or computers to entertain us, so we drew instead. One of my brothers would sketch intricate war scenes. Another would draw animals so realistic you’d swear they were breathing. My specialty was aliens, robots, and monsters.

“Dr. Seuss and Robert McCloskey were my heroes. I loved the rhythm of Dr. Seuss’ words and I was fascinated by the meticulous detail of Robert McCloskey’s illustrations. I had no idea back then that I’d end up writing and illustrating children’s books when I grew up.

“After high school, I studied fine art at The University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth and graduated with a BFA in 1982. It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do. First I was a waiter, and then I was offered a part-time job at a magazine for teenagers. Eventually I started drawing cartoons and illustrations for the magazine and my career as an illustrator was born.

“For more than ten years I worked as a freelance illustrator specializing in art for kids. I was doing mostly editorial work and my illustrations appeared in magazines like Nickelodeon, Family Fun, and Disney Adventures. One day I started thinking about drawing a picture of a boat stuck high up in a tree. I thought that would be a really funny and intriguing illustration. At the same time, a refrain kept running through my head—“Mr. Magee and his little dog, Dee / Hopped in the car and drove down to the sea.” The combination of these two things eventually became my first book, Down to the Sea with Mr. Magee (Chronicle), which was published in 2000. Since then I’ve written and illustrated A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee (Chronicle) (2003), If I Built a Car (Puffin) (2005) and I’ve had a ball illustrating Kate DiCamillo’s Mercy Watson series (Candlewick).

Reviews

[Pam Pho]

Oh King Hugo, you made me laugh, you made me want to read you out loud to hear the magical lilt of your text audible. I loved every bit of the fifteen minutes I read about you King Hugo, and all the times I have read you since then... you are after all a highly re-readable book.

Guys I know it's not very often I talk about picture books here; and by not very often I mean never, but sometimes you read one and it stands out and begs to be talked about and Hugo is one of those books. The author illustrator is extremely talented and it is incredibly easy to find yourself as an adult enjoying the story of Hugo and his inflating egotistical head. We all know that one guy or gal whose ego surpasses everyone else.

Hugo wakes up every morning and gives a sermon to his people about his awesomeness. They have to go listen because he is the king. Then one day he is driving his cart about the city and asks a woman to move off the road so that he may pass. She declines to move to the muddy side of the road as she is carrying heavy things and needs to get on with her day's work. Hugo merely uses his horse and cart to knock her aside and continues on his way.

What Hugo doesn't realize is the woman he knocked aside is a sorceress and she curses him! Every time the king talks about himself his head grows larger, until one day it is so big and heavy he falls over and begins rolling through the village.

Will King Hugo learn from this curse?

Delightful, funny, and fantastically illustrated I highly recommend King Hugo!

[Shanshad Whelan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just can't like this one. Pictures are neat, but the message of the story? Our guy is an arrogant jerk until a farmer's daughter takes him down a peg or two with a curse that allows his inflated sense of self to truly inflate his head to ridiculous proportions. When she "deflates" him he is contrite and proposes marriage, which she accepts--apparently arrogant jerks can magically change in to lovable puppy dogs.

I prefer Rapunzel's Daughter in this case.

[Riley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Funny, great pictures, aaaaand...they lost me at the girl insta-loving on the king after he gives her puppydog eyes. Sigh.

[Tiuri · Rating 3 out of 5]

“How absolutely…how incredibly odd, my good man”

[Amber Troy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated. The story teaches a terrible lesson. Basically, the king is a pompous, narcissistic, and abusive asshole. He wrongs a sorceress, literally runs her into the gutter. She curses him, making him realize that he's an ass. Then... For some reason she decides she likes him and they get married?!? This perpetuates the idea that men who are abusive, selfish, immature assholes just need the love of the right woman to fix them. This takes the responsibility off the men and puts it on the woman. Fuck that shit. People need to take responsibility for their wrongs and grow up.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

A small king with a large ego gets put in check when he experiences the wrath of a scorned sorceress. This laugh out loud tale will give pause to anyone who has never checked their ego at the door.

[Suzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The boys loved this book and I thought it was a great story with creative and colorful illustrations. The only thing I wasn't crazy about was how oversimplified the ending was.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hugo was a very short king with a big ego. He made his people listen to him talk about how wonderful he was for hours. He made his people bow to him each time he walked past. A peasant girl, Tess, was walking down the road with a heavy load. Hugo was behind her and his servants ordered her to move off the road. Tess told the king to go around her. This infuriated the king and the servants bumped Tess into the gutter. Tess, it turns out, is a witch, She was so angry with the king that she put a spell on him, making his head grow every time he thought about how wonderful he was. His head grew and grew and grew, until he floated off the castle walls and fell into the mud. Who should come along but Tess?! She tweaked his ears and out of his head came all the haughty things Hugo had thought about himself for so many years until his head returned to normal size and he felt embarrassed at himself and apologized. Tess and Hugo, of course, fell in love and married.

Fabulously expressive illustrations. Rhyming text.

“King Hugo’s head deflated
like a giant pink balloon,
and when he heard what he had said,
he felt like a buffoon.

Sheepishly he said to her,
‘I do apologize.’
Then he looked at Texxa
with his big, sad puppy eyes.”

[Evan Williamson · Rating 3 out of 5]

There’s really three things I can use to judge this book: art, story, and characters. Let’s do this.

The art of King Hugo’s Huge Ego is charming. I get the feeling of Disney animation with these drawings and colors, shapes varying and landscapes that are pretty. It’s really pretty book thing.

The story in the book is bland. An aesop about a witch who curses a king, you have all read this before. What is particularly saddening is the quick turn at the end where everybody feels bad, falls in love and lives happily ever after. I would have burned the mother down.

The characters are two dimensional and do not behave like real people. They are dumb. The sorceress does not look like a witch. That was dumb.

This has been five minute reviews. Thank you.

[Lynn Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little king with a very big ego demanded everyone praise and adore him, until he met Tessa who cast a spell on him because of his rudeness and arrogance. Then he had a very big problem to match his ego!
Amusing story told in fun rhyme and funny and beautiful illustrations. Great ending.

[Kristan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A favorite of my 2 and 4 year old boys. We've read all of Chris Van Dusen's books and have enjoyed rereading them.

[Ash · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t like it since it made fun of short people and
I don’t think it is good for kids as there is an insta love in it too.

[Cassedy Burns · Rating 1 out of 5]

Worth a one time read, but nothing more.

I have become a fan of this great Maine author through his books "Circus Ship" and "If I built a car", but this book does not excite me. "Circus Ship" loosely based on a true event involving a circus ship of animals and a Maine Island, is a rhyming and visually exciting read. "If I built a Car" is like being a kid engineer and your ideas care true. Both of those books have excellent art work, they are on the longer side but the rhymes are so delightful.

BUT "King Hugo's Huge Ego" does not have any of those drawing qualities. The book is too long, rhymes not intriguing. The art work I find creepy. The moral of story is admirable, teaching kids about being egotistical. But overall nothing exciting, interesting or funny happens. It seems to be predictable and derivative. I also don't find the ending to be charming as it seems it is suppose to.

So- go out and buy "Circus Ship" and "If I built a Car" -which I have! But I would not recommend "King Hugo's Huge Ego.

[ElizondoKids · Rating 5 out of 5]

We love all of Chris Van Dusen's books. This one made all of us laugh. It was also a good reminder about being humble instead of prideful. I know that some people have complained about the ending with the maiden falling for him after he's been enlightened to his arrogance. It didn't bother me. We read A LOT of books, and the kids know that the way we treat others is a big deal. We read sassy girl-power princess books where the maiden snuffs the prince in favor of becoming a mechanic. We also read classic fairy tales where the prince meets the princess and they immediately fall in love. I personally feel like it's good to read all kinds of books with different types of endings. I don't see how reading this type of ending will send any bad messages to my kids. But everyone is entitled to their own opinion! On a different note, my kids LOVED finding the "Easter Eggs" - Mr Magee and Dee are hidden in the pages!

[Courtney Hoke · Rating 5 out of 5]

A hilarious/informational story of a king with a large ego. To children, this is a great visual example to illustrate what "ego" means because the more he boasted, the larger his head became due to a sorceress who he was rude to. Soon he finally realized what a jerk he was and how big his ego was that he finally came to his senses and asked the lady (sorceress) how he could change his attitude. This story also had a great color scheme with bright colors that attract you to the page. Along with symbolizing who was poor (dark bland colors) vs who was rich (bright tasteful colors). All around great book that I enjoyed and that is why I gave it a 5. Not because it made me laugh but the above reasons. It tells kids what an "ego" is through illustrations and shows that an ego is not good/what it can do to yourself and others around you.

[Becky B · Rating 4 out of 5]

King Hugo is full of himself. He may be diminutive in stature, but his ego is huge. And when his ego causes him to treat one of his people horribly, that person decides to teach him a lesson. She curses his head to grow with every egotistical thing he says. But is Hugo beyond hope?

This feels like a fairy tale mashed up with a fable because there's a very clear moral to the story. In some ways, it is reminiscent of Pinnochio in that a body part grows with each moral infraction. Thankfully, Hugo seems to learn his lesson a little easier than certain puppets. The story is told completely in rhyme and Van Dusen's illustrations make it humorous and memorable. Recommended to those who like fairy tales with solid morals or knows a little one who needs a dose of humility.

[Mari · Rating 2 out of 5]

Knowing now that each illustration was painted by hand and with guache, I should appreciate the illustrations more, but I didn't know it when I was reading it and really hated the illustration style.

The messaging is problematic with the sorceress marrying the king at the end, and this may be overthinking, but I really hate that he gives his speech to his 'congregation' on Friday afternoons and makes his subjects bow to him and at the end, that the word 'kismet' is used... of course it could be random but when I read it, all I think of is Friday prayers and bowing to God and kismet from the arabic word (قسم) and it doesn't suit me well.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

When King Hugo's pride pushes a young sorceress off the road, she curses his head to grow with each self-absorbed comment he makes. At first it is a source of pride for the king, but eventually it leads to trouble. In the end, the king sees how he was wrong, and also how his attitude gets in the way of who he really could be, and in the way of respect, friendship, love...

King Hugo really gives "a big head" a new meaning!

[Michelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

The king has a horrible ego. He is cruel and narcissistic. He is cursed by a beautiful peasant woman. His head swells until he realizes the error of his ways. King makes puppy dog eyes at beautiful woman, says sorry one time, does nothing else, and suddenly she’s in love with him? Forgives all? Marries him? Yeah, NO. Wish at that story pivot the author had chosen to make her the king’s royal advisor. With a sweet castle to call her own. The king could stay in his own castle.

[Luisa Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

Van Dusen's pictures are colorful and eye-catching. And I love his story-telling style - great word choice and pleasant, rhythmic flow. This book successfully conveys the fact that nobody likes a bragger.

Ages 3+

Cleanliness: this is a fairy tale and has a sorceress, "the kind with special powers like a wizard or a witch, so she cast a spell upon the king..."

[Shayna R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great rhyming structure, with a fun storyline. Great illustrations (although I did find a page or two a bit weird), and a good message for kids. Definitely worth a read for anyone young or old who loves a good rhyming story.

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book on a book list I’m working on through Sarah Mackenzie’s “The Read Aloud Family”. This is a poetic book that was very well written! I read this to my 8 year son and he enjoyed it. A good lesson about not being prideful!

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the lesson this taught and was a big fan of this book until the last few pages. That was completely random. Did romance have to be thrown in there? Before that point, I really really liked this.

[Robin Raines-Bond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chris Van Dusen writes another fun, rhyming, yet poignant book. This one will inspire you to be more humble.

[Haaley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really funny. I love the illustrations.

The story teaches a good lesson as well.

[Christie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun read aloud. Chris Van Dusen's illustrations are always great, and the rhythm and characters were easy to adore (even King Hugo with his huge ego).

[Maren Prestegaard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kids loved this. I love Van Dusen.

[Tracy Schillemore · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great rhyming book. It is also a good book to teach about bragging. I am planning on using it in my royal court storytime.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

My son gets excited every time he finds this book at the library. He thinks it’s uproariously funny (and it kind of is).

[Chloe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that King Hugo's Huge Ego is a nice and funny book with lots of poetry.