What You Need to Know:
• Happy Pig Day! is a worthy addition to the Elephant & Piggie canon.
• The Elephant and Piggie series simultaneously does 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 series on your young readers'
bookshelf. They would make for a brilliant gift when a child is born.
• 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 always
makes a guest appearance! |
Sweet Series Background:
Happy Pig Day! 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 Happy Pig Day!, Piggie and Gerald take on their usual (hilarious) roles. In this new adventure, Piggie has some new piggie friends (or does she?). Piggie and her new swine buddies are celebrating Pig Day! Pig day is terrific: it's the best day to have a pig party, it's the best day to do a pig dance, and it's the best day ever to sing pig songs. Piggie invites Gerald to join in the pig revelry, but, in true Gerald fashion, he worries. Gerald worries he doesn't know any pig dances, he doesn't know any pig songs, and he definitely can't speak pig. Gerald feels quite left out, Piggie is with all her pig friends doing pig things. Nevertheless, his optimistic (and inclusive) friend Piggie, prevents Gerald's feelings from being hurt by making sure he fits right into the festivities. The surprise ending will delight little readers.
I love that over the span of the 16 books that make up this series, children will get to know Piggie and Gerald and their friendship. My little guy already knows that Gerald will worry and Piggie won't and it's always going to be funny! Let me repeat one more time, you cannot lose with this series! You might notice, I only gave this one four stars. I loved it, but not quite as much as the rest. But that is not a slight. This series is brilliant, but they can't all be perfect! I am quite sure your youngster will not even notice the difference. |
Author: Mo Willems Illustrator: Mo Willems Published: 2011, 64 pages
Themes: Friendship, Animals, Excellent Read-Aloud, Humor |
Sweet Discussion Questions:
• Have you ever felt left out? When? Why?
• Have you ever noticed a friend feeling left out? Did you help him/her? How?
• How would you describe Piggie? How would you describe Gerald?
• Who are you most like, Elephant or Piggie? How or why?
• 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. |
| This recommendation was written by: Melissa Y. |
| Support Independent Book Shops: Click Here to Buy this Book on IndieBound |
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