Clever Hans: The True Story of the Counting, Adding, and Time-Telling Horse

by Kerri Kokias, Mike Lowery (Illustrator)

Overview

This true story of the incredible horse whose smarts stumped all of Berlin and changed science reads like a fabulous STEM mystery.

Clever Hans was a horse who could do math problems, tell time, read, spell, and more . . . or could he?

Even after seeing Hans answer questions correctly, some people thought it must be a hoax. Scientists began to investigate. Eventually, one scientist had a groundbreaking "aha!" moment and realized Hans was clever in a way no one had even imagined.

Turns out Hans was so smart, he changed science!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780525514985
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	05/05/2020
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	1,165,488
Product dimensions:	9.40(w) x 10.60(h) x 1.40(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Kerri's writing features unique structures, playful language, humor, tension, tenderness, simple text, and complicated characters. She has a good vision for how text and art can work together to tell a complete story. Kerri credits most of her story ideas to her "fly on the wall" personality. This means she's both a keen observer of social interactions and a nosey eavesdropper. Kerri lives in Seattle, Washington with her husband, two children, and three dogs.

Mike Lowery is a New York Times Bestselling Illustrator who has worked on dozens of award-winning books for kids including The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School by Laura Murray, Mac B, Kid Spy by Mac Barnett, How to Be A T.Rex by Ryan North and MANY others. He's also written several books, including the Doodle Adventures series of graphic novels for kids and Random Illustrated Facts: A Collection of Curious, Weird, and Totally Not Boring Things to Know which collects his drawings of super-weird and totally true facts.

Editorial Reviews

03/30/2020

Clever Hans was a horse who astounded early-20th-century audiences in Berlin with his cognitive talents—he could purportedly tell time and tap out coin values with his hooves—and who turned out to be clever in a different way than originally thought. Hans was also an inadvertent hero, revolutionizing experimental design by showing, as the book’s afterword explains, “how scientists can accidently change the way that animals, and even people, react when they are being studied.” It all plays out as a rollicking science mystery, with observations resulting in twists and turns, and Kokias (Snow Sisters!) and Lowery (Knot Cannot) are more than up for the task. The text takes an unhurried, reportorial tone (“Scientists, scholars, and religious and military leaders from around the world jumped at the chance to see Clever Hans”), while the thoughtful cartooning portrays Hans himself as downright adorable. Comics-style framing breaks the story into easy-to-grasp chunks, with diagrams, dialogue balloons, and handwritten asides (“Maybe this meant that Clever Hans was a PSYCHIC MIND READER!”) that punctuate, nudge, and tickle until the case is cracked—leaving readers feeling a little savvier about the world around them. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Tricia Lawrence, Erin Murphy Literary. Illustrator’s agent: Susan McCabe, Lilla Rogers Studio. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"It all plays out as a rollicking science mystery . . . The text takes an unhurried, reportorial tone, while the thoughtful cartooning portrays Hans himself as downright adorable. Comics-style framing breaks the story into easy-to-grasp chunks, with diagrams, dialogue balloons, and handwritten asides (“Maybe this meant that Clever Hans was a PSYCHIC MIND READER!”) that punctuate, nudge, and tickle until the case is cracked—leaving readers feeling a little savvier about the world around them." -Publishers Weekly

”Kokias’ clear, accessible tone pairs well with Lowery’s cartoon style. The comically smiling horse invites readers in, and intermittent paneled frames help organize the flow of information and visually propel the storytelling arc. Clever, indeed.” –Kirkus 

"Kokias’ text is a model of lighthearted clarity, laying out how various people tested their theories on Hans’ performance. Lowery’s cartoons capture the quirkiness of the scientific breakthrough and even add some rudimentary German language lessons in the word-bubble translations in conversations and ads. This is much in the spirit of Meghan McCarthy picture books, and it similarly deftly balances information and cheerful goofiness." -The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

“Lowery’s one-dimensional cartoon illustrations are playful and bold . . .Budding horse fans, history fans, and science fans will all find something here to pique their interests.” –Booklist

From the Publisher

06/01/2020

Gr 2–4—This picture book shares the story of Clever Hans, a horse who could supposedly count, add, and tell time. Wilhelm von Osten, who lived in Berlin in 1904, owned Hans, an intelligent, talented horse. Crowds appeared on the street daily to observe Hans. Scientists, scholars, and others came to prove that the horse's skills were a hoax. Oskar Pfungst, an assistant of psychologist Carl Stumpf, put blinders on Hans. He determined that the horse needed to see in order to count and tell time. This "discovery" led to the theory that the horse was really interpreting people's faces and body movements to determine if he was right. Pfgunst continued to explore this early concept of body language. The book ends with an explanation of the "Clever Hans effect" (an actual term in psychology) as well as how scientific interpretation requires double-blind testing. Lowery's realistic, cartoon-style drawings are appealing. VERDICT A unique and enlightening story about a lesser-known historical moment and its effects on the field of psychology that would work well as a read-aloud or jumping-off point for a unit on animal and human intelligence and psychology.—Susan Lissim, Dwight Sch., New York

School Library Journal

2020-03-15
An astonishing horse baffled both the public and the scientific community.

In 1904 Berlin, Wilhelm von Osten taught his horse, Clever Hans, how to count, discern colors, and perform other intellectual tasks. He then showcased Clever Hans’ talents to the masses, and people were astounded to see a horse that could seemingly tell time, add up sums, and count money! But not everyone believed the spectacle. Some thought there must be trickery involved. One scientist investigated independently, and the German government asked another to assemble a team of investigators. They decided it wasn’t a trick, but they still couldn’t understand the phenomenon. Then a scientist named Oskar Pfungst made an important discovery. What he realized about Clever Hans—who was certainly clever, just not quite in the way everyone thought—changed the scientific process forever. Kokias’ clear, accessible tone pairs well with Lowery’s cartoon style. The comically smiling horse invites readers in, and intermittent paneled frames help organize the flow of information and visually propel the storytelling arc. Von Osten, the investigators, and spectators present white. English translations of certain German words (“Zeitungen”—“Newspapers”) are also included, with playful arrows pointing readers to them. An author’s note further explains the “Clever Hans Effect” and how it changed science.

Clever, indeed. (bibliography) (Informational picture book. 6-9 )

Kirkus Reviews