| Elephant and Piggie: My Friend is Sad |
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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).
• Willem's deft illustrations, the way they convey exactly what the character is feeling without need for words, really, are 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, 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:
My Friend is Sad 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 seasoned, droll elephant named Gerald. In My Friend is Sad, Gerald the elephant is quite sad. Spunky little Piggie decides she will make him happy! Piggie proceeds to pull out all the stops, disguising herself as all of Gerald's favorite things: a cowboy, a clown and a robot, but he is still sad. When Piggie shows up as herself, Gerald is so relieved (and happy!). Gerald expains to Piggie that all these cool things showed up, but his best friend Piggie wasn't there to share it with him. My Friend is Sad is such a sweet and enjoyable story about friendship, told in such an understated (and hilarious) way, your young reader won't even realize he just got a valuable life lesson in friendship. |
Author: Mo Willems Illustrator: Mo Willems Published: 2007, 64 pages
Themes: Friendship, Animals, Feelings, Excellent Read-Aloud |
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