| Elephant and Piggie: There Is a Bird on Your Head! |
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What You Need to Know:
• This is a brilliantly conceived new learn to read series by the author of the Pigeon books (Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus).
• There Is a Bird on Your Head! is an entertaining story with a quiet self-esteem message about standing up for yourself.
• Willem's illustrations are so good, I believe the books could be wordless and still tell the story (but we'd miss the words!).
• In a few short pages, with spare prose, Willems has created an exciting 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, the picture clues and vocabulary choice and repetition are that good.
• For all those pigeons fans out there, check out the endpapers (the inside, back cover of the books). |
Sweet Series Background:
There Is a Bird on Your Head! is another wonderful addition in the new 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, all the while creating a great story. Willems does it effortlessly with Piggie and Elephant. |
Sweet Book Summary:
The main characters are a little, optimisic pig and a rather pessimistic, droll elephant named Gerald. In There Is a Bird on Your Head!, Elephant has something on his head. Piggie helpfully points out it is a bird. Gerald is not happy. Piggie continues to helpfully point out that another bird has joined the perch on his head, and they are love birds! This goes on comically until there is a nest, two love birds and three baby birds on his head. Gerald is beside himself and asks Piggies advice, he doesn't want birds on his head! Piggie says just ask them to leave and the birds willingly depart.
Again, Willems has simply, humorously and powerfully imparted to the young reader an important life lesson: standing up for oneself. And where the birds end up will have your young readers rolling on the floor with laughter! |
Author: Mo Willems Illustrator: Mo Willems Published: 2007, 64 pages
Themes: Friendship, Animals, Humor, Self-Awareness, Excellent Read-Aloud |
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