We Are In a Book! by Mo Willems

Synopsis

A 2011 Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book

In the 13th installment in the Elephant & Piggie series, Gerald and Piggie discover the joy of being read! But what will happen when the book ends!?

When Piggie discovers that she and Gerald are in a book and she can make the reader say a funny word out loud, Gerald is tickled pink. But then Gerald realizes that the book is going to end soon—ack! What will happen then? Gerald just wants to be read!! As always, level-headed Piggie has an idea: she will ask the reader to start the book again. Using vocabulary perfect for beginning readers, Mo Willems has crafted a mind-bending Elephant & Piggie story that is more interactive than ever.

My thoughts:
There is just something about Elephant and Piggie that children love! The stories are simple but fun and the word bubbles or speech bubbles are a great way to teach and differentiate who is speaking. I read this book to both of my preschool classes and to my own children. I loved that when I left the book out at school for the students to look at they were reading it themselves and for the most part remembered the story! They requested to hear it again and laughed just as much during the second reading as during the first. I had no idea this was the 13th book in the series. My own children own 3 or 4 of them but I guess we'll have to hit up the library to look for some of the others.


In this story the characters figure out that someone is reading them and that they can make the reader say a word by saying it themselves and their funny word is ....Bananas! Not so funny to an adult but to children it is hilarious. Then when they figure out that the book is going to end they ask the reader to read them again. This reminded me of a Little Golden Book we have with Grover in it called There is a Monster at the End of the Book. Grover is so scared of the monster that he tries over and over again to get the reader to stop turning the pages only to discover that he is the monster at the end of the book. Anything that gets kids reading and excited about books is something I can't wait to tell other teachers and parents about!


Product Details

Pub. Date: September 2010
Publisher: Hyperion
Format: Hardcover , 64pp
Age Range: 4 to 8
Series: Elephant and Piggie Series
ISBN-13: 9781423133087
ISBN: 1423133080