Customer Reviews
Awesomely Funny!!! 
2008-08-04
My two boys (5 &9) will read anything by Mo Willems but this was the first one we ever read. They (and I) absolutely love it!
Make sure you do individual voices for each character.
You and you child will be laughing out loud!
Cute! 2008-02-08
Very cute book! Mo Willems is a great kids author and his Pigeon books are a must read, as well!! Your kids will love them all!
K/1 teachers~~here it is! Mo Willems rocks! 2008-01-19
All the Mo Willems books are huge hits in my classroom, and the Elephant and Piggie books are the hottest items in home reading. Even the parents enjoy them and especially love seeing their emergent readers read and reread with animation and excitement. No whining about home reading practice with these books! As a teacher, I'm really excited about this series and have already preordered the two Elephant and Piggie books that are going to be released in a few months. Great high frequency word practice, too!
MO books!!!!! 2007-12-19
Dude!!!! this is such a good book. I love Mo Willems books i didn't think you could top the pigeon but this comes close. I highly recommend it!!!! The elephant needs glasses too funny!!!
Elephant Gets His Groove Back 2007-11-20
Mo Willems is a master illustrator and storyteller. He's also somewhat of an illusionist. I'll explain.
Out of the simplest elements: Just two characters, a minimal plot, a few words per page, and uncluttered illustrations that must average over 80% "white space" (i.e., the un-illustrated parts of the page), Willems constructs amazingly rich scenes that surprise us with their enormous humor, subtle understanding, and underlying complexity.
Here, Gerard the elephant tells his pal Piggie that he feels sad. Elephant's labeling of this emotion begins with a frown, and then an apparently surprised recognition that he feels blue. Piggie looks out at the reader with concern, stating, "My friend is sad." Later, we see that Elephant seems frightened of his feelings. Piggie declares confidently, "I will make him happy." These six pages of relative gravity set the scene for the entertaining frivolity that follows.
Piggie pulls out all the stops to cheer up his friend: He wear a 10 (at least!) gallon hat, "Yeehawing" about on a pretend horse,, he juggles 5 balls in the air, and wears a faux high tech costume that Gerard figures out is a robot. Piggie is thoughtful, Gerard loves cowboys, clowns, and robots, and he cheers up temporarily. However, each time, his delighted surprise doesn't last, and he is sad again. Piggie, for all his careful planning and attention to detail feels like he has failed his friend. We soon learn, however, that Piggie's disguises were perhaps a little TOO successful...!
Willems, you see, performs a neat little trick here, midway through the book; a clever twist for which we're totally unprepared. Elephant may have been sad, but apparently he's even sadder that Piggy missed all the things which cheered him up....the cowboy, the clown, and the robot! There's more, of course: Willems relishes the opportunity to capture all of Elephant's outrageous, wrenching melodrama. As Gerard recounts how happy he was seeing these characters, he becomes more and more distraught, as he recalls that Piggie was not there with him. When Gerard excitedly shouts, "THERE WAS MORE!" he's so loud that Piggy is thrown several feet away.
Toddlers and others (especially parents and adult caregivers) will recognize and appreciate these extreme of emotion. Within this simple story, Willems gives us all a chance to see the humor of Elephant's histrionics. Moreover, the plot twist is itself hilarious, because we're in on the secret that Piggie--of course--WAS there. At the conclusion, the elephant hugs Piggie, happily declaring, "My friend is here now," and, after quietly and happily sitting near him, blushingly admits, "I need my friends." Piggy looks out at us, and whispers a little zinger, "You need new glasses." Gerard looks confused--but not unhappy.
BY equal measure droll and unsparingly funny, but full of action, emotion, and surprise, "My Friend is Sad" is another gem in Mo Willems' humor and insight in simple situations. It's a great companion to "Today I Will Fly" (also released in March 2007); I recommend both books very highly.
I love Mo Willems 
2007-07-29
Just order all his books. Take advantage of EVERY multiple buying deal. Currently I am missing only two of the books I know he has published. :) If I lived in the Brooklyn area I would march in and have him sign EVERY ONE of them. Even the books I didn't initially like (Edwina, Leonardo, Pigeon finds a hot dog) I have come to love. There is some brainwashing feature --- lol --- it doesn't hurt that he hides the pigeons in the books --- we like looking for him. I'm telling you he GETS kids. From the inside cover to the very back --- the books are incredibly simple --- well thought out.
Thank you Mo.
My son loves Elephant and Piggie, and so do I! 2007-07-07
My son loves Elephant and Piggie, and so do I!
My son is six years old, and learning to read. I search high and low for early readers that are at a beginner's level AND entertaining, yet usually end up very disappointed. Most early readers have little plot and are dull to even my six-year-old. With Elephant and Piggie, the humor is at a level of sophistication that both he and I can enjoy.
The illustrations, though simple, are so expressive! My son can read these books independently, but our favorite method is to each take a role of one of the characters and take turns reading the book together.
Did I read that Mo Willems worked on Sesame Street at one time? That would explain the cleverness of his books, and the ability to appeal to both adults and children alike. We have loved all of his books that we have read, especially the Pigeon books and Knuffle Bunny, and of course, Elephant and Piggie! We are eagerly awaiting the release of his next books!
Perfect for 3 yr old 2007-05-25
My three year old son loves this series. This one is a lot of fun to read to him. We learn about emotions, pretend play, and interpersonal relationships. And there's robots, cowboys, and juggling clowns.
The artwork is expressive and uncomplicated. The dialogue allows for imaginative performance by the reader-- by changing the nuances, you can make it a different experience each time. Which is not to say you have to be a great actor.
These books are different from the pigeon books (also by Mo Willems), in that having two characters allows room for plot and story development on a greater scale. The pigeon books (such as _Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus_) are much more appropriate for a younger child.
The only reason I did not give this particular book a full five stars is that the dialogue in the end of the story is a little flat compared to the excellence of his other books. This book is still a must have.
Melodrama in Miniature 2007-05-13
This book knocked my socks off! Of course, it's a little hard to find one's socks while rolling on the floor laughing... There are few books for early readers that truly stand the test of time, but My Friend Is Sad should be around for years to come. The things that make it work would, ironically, fall flat in a chapter book for fifth graders--but Mo Willems understands something crucial about little kids, and that is that their emotions and interactions feel vast and dramatic to them. This story reminded me of an old-fashioned melodrama, characterized by over-the-top facial expressions and physical humor. I mean, Gerald the elephant could do a GREAT death scene if he had to. In counterpoint to the drama that is Gerald, we have his friend Piggie's drier delivery as Piggie earnestly, even frantically, attempts to cheer up the sad elephant. (You may not be able to tell from the text that Piggie is a girl, by the way.) I love Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad with all my heart, but here is a duo with an equally charming, though very different, dynamic. Your child will like this book--and you will, too!
A great new book with great new characters! 2007-03-22
Mo Willems has worked his magic yet again. In two new books, "Today I will Fly" And "My Friend is Sad" he introduces two new characters to his cast--Piggie, an upbeat and optomistic pig and her best friend, Gerald a more melancholy, 'realistic' elephant who wears glasses.
Piggie enters the pages of the book to find, Gerald, her best friend in a very glum mood--he's so wrapped up in it that he does not even notice her. She then goes about trying ways to cheer him up--dressing up as a clown and a cowboy for example. Each new attempt, inspite of Gerald loving clowns and cowboys, makes the elephant even more miserable.
The illustrations are classic Willems, super expressive but very simple at the same time. Fantastic!
Its a sweet book about friendship and is great for a younger audience. Its on a similar level as "Green Eggs and Ham" and clearly the publisher realised this as it is very similar in shape, size and general physical design to the smaller Dr. Seuss books.
