| Elephant and Piggie: Listen to My Trumpet! |
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What You Need to Know:
• Listen to My Trumpet!, is the seventeenth book in the hilarious Elephant and Piggie series by the brilliant and prolific
Mo Williems.
• The Elephant and Piggie books simultaneously do so many things well, including: teaching children to read, to
socialize, to be a good friend, to empathize, to laugh and so much more. And they are enormously entertaining.
• If you have young children, you should buy these books in bulk and have the entire canon on your young readers'
bookshelf. They would make for a perfect gift when a child is born.
• The way Willems' deft illustrations convey exactly what the character is feeling, without the need for words, is really
nothing short of genius.
• In a few short pages, with spare prose, Willems has created a suspenseful story that will have you and your young
reader hooked from start to finish.
• Your young reader should be able to read it by themselves after only a few shared readings.
• For all those pigeon fans out there, check out the end-papers (the inside, back cover of the books). Pigeon makes a
guest appearance! |
Sweet Series Background:
Listen to My Trumpet!, is another wonderful addition in the learn-to-read series by Mo Willems. Think of it in the same vein as a Dr. Seuss book, similar in size and feel, with a bit less text than the longer-winded Seuss books. In the Elephant and Piggie books, Willems effortlessly combines elements required for this learning-to-read genre like word repetition and sight word inclusion, with comedy, terrific illustrations and a great story-line. The last is what makes this series so special. So many of the learn-to-read books are dreadfully boring because it is hard to repeat words, keep the vocabulary simple, and still create a great story. Willems does it effortlessly with Elephant & Piggie. |
Sweet Book Summary:
In Listen to My Trumpet!, Piggie has decided to take up the trumpet and all she wants to do is impress Gerald with her playing. Piggie sets Gerald up to listen to her concerto and begins to perform. But what comes out of her trumpet sounds nothing at all like music. Good old neurotic Gerald is all atwitter. He doesn't know how to tell Piggie that she sounds awful without hurting her feelings, but he can't lie either. So very gently, Gerald explains to Piggie that while her trumpet is shiny, and she holds it really well, the notes she played were not, in fact, music. Piggie enthusiastically replies that she wasn't trying to make music; she was trying to speak elephant because she wants to sound just like Gerald!
I appreciate how Willems does so many things in this book simultaneously and does them brilliantly! He is able to tell a suspenseful, hilarious story while teaching children a valuable friendship lesson as they learn to read. There are not many books in the children's publishing space that can accomplish all of that and do it this well. An added bonus in Listen to My Trumpet!, is a fun phonics lesson. While Piggie is trying to speak elephant, Willems makes all sorts of nonsense words that can be used to reinforce letter sounds.
I love that over the span of the 17 books that make up this series, children will get to know Piggie and Gerald and their friendship. My seven year old son already knows that Gerald will worry and Piggie won't, and he knows the story is always going to be funny! |
Author: Mo Willems Illustrator: Mo Willems Published: 2012, 57 pages
Themes: Friendship, Animals, Excellent Read-Aloud, Humor, Sharing |
Sweet Discussion Questions:
• Do you worry about hurting your friend's feelings?
• How would you describe Piggie? How would you describe Gerald?
• Who are you most like, Elephant or Piggie? How or why?
• Did the ending surprise you?
• What did you think was the funniest part of the story?
• Do you have a friendship in your life like Elephant and Piggie's friendship? Tell me about it.
• How do you think Gerald feels when he finds out Piggie wants to sound just like him? |
| This recommendation was written by: Melissa Y. |
| Support Independent Book Shops: Click Here to Buy this Book on IndieBound |
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