The book is subtitled "The Simplest Seuss for Youngest Use", and is designed to introduce basic phonics concepts to children.

One of Geisel's manuscript drafts for the book contained the lines, "When I read I am smart / I always cut whole words apart.

[4] One of Hop on Pop’s most notable advocates is former United States First Lady Laura Bush, who listed the book as her favourite in a 2006 Wall Street Journal article.

Bush said this book with its illustrations and rhymes delighted her and her husband George and their daughters Barbara and Jenna after reading it.

[5] In 2013, an official complaint was made to the Toronto Public Library, which claimed that the book "encouraged children to use violence against their fathers".