Review: Do Your Ears Hang Low?

I don’t know why some nursery rhymes and songs capture a particular child’s attention while others don’t, but each family seems to have certain songs that become favourites. For our family, Do Your Ears Hang Low? is one of those songs, sung with enthusiasm on car trips, walking along the street and at random moments.

Illustrator Jenny Cooper provides a wonderfully appealing collection of animals with ears of various shapes and sizes in this picture book version of the classic children’s song Do Your Ears Hang Low? Dogs, mice, llamas, pigs and rabbits smile from the pages to demonstrate the four verses of the song with ears that hang low, stand high, flip-flop and stick out. The final page includes a mirror section so that children can check their own ears to see which category they fall into, encouraged by the flip-floppy eared rabbit ‘You’ve got the cutest ears I’ve ever seen!’.


The book includes a CD accompaniment by iconic New Zealand duo The Topp Twins. There are two tracks on the CD, one with the Topp Twin vocals and one instrumental so that children can sing along by themselves. The book concludes with some random ear facts.

There is a great sense of fun in the illustrations and music tracks for Do Your Ears Hang Low? to encourage children to sing, rather than read, this picture book. Singing the story is a great way to engage the interest of children who prefer to be ‘doing’ rather than sitting quietly and there are lots of opportunities to come up with some fun actions to accompany this story/song.

Title: Do Your Ears Hang Low? (with CD)
Illustrator: Jenny Cooper
Sung by: The Topp Twins 
Publisher: Scholastic NZ, $16.99 RRP
Publication Date: October 2012
Format: Softcover (with CD)
ISBN: 9781775431046
For ages: 2+ years
Type: Picture book