Elephant and Piggie Books

I know, it seems like blasphemy for a writer of a children’s books blog to type those words, but it is true.  That is not to say that I do not love Dr. Seuss.  I adore him!


But right now, I am the mom of a five year old learning to read.  Having taught MANY children to read over the years, I declare EMPHATICALLY that the  

“Elephant and Piggie” book series by Mo Willems

are the BEST books available for engaging the newest readers.  

I am writing this post in hopes of introducing a few of you to this amazing series.  If you are not familiar with the Elephant and Piggie books, head straight to your library and check out all they have. You won't be disappointed.   I am always surprised by the number of Don't Let the Pigeon Drive The Bus fans who don't know about these. 

The Elephant and Piggie books are early readers by Mo Willems that feature two unlikely best friends who learn and grow together.  There are currently 17 books in this series.

So, why do I think they are better than anything else out there, including the great early reader contributions by Dr. Seuss?


1- The Elephant and Piggie books are short. -Pigs Make Me Sneeze has 188 words on 57 pages.  The Cat in the Hat has 1629 words on 61 pages.  For a new reader and his enthusiastic parents, the books can be completed in a time frame that manages to maintain the interest of both the young reader and the doting listeners (before mom and dad become the “doZing” listeners).  They are the PERFECT length! 


2- Willems has perfected the use of the speech bubble.  My son loves speech bubbles!  They help him recognize which character is speaking.  They help him know if the character is speaking LOUDLY, because the word bubbles are LARGER.  He knows if they are speaking softly, because the word bubbles are smaller.  This helps him read with expression, THE VERY FIRST TIME THROUGH!  He doesn’t stumble through in a monotone voice, like he does with some other early readers.  He knows when to use a grumpy voice, give a happy cheer, or whisper quietly.  Just from the speech bubbles and font size. I never really understood the power of the speech bubble in early literacy, until I was introduced to Mo Willems.  

2 ½-Did I mention the use of speech bubbles?  Speech bubbles lend themselves beautifully to shared reading, an important part of reading instruction.  My son and I each choose a character in the book and read all of his or her lines throughout the entire book, similar to reading a play.  In fact, we have often used the Elephant and Piggie  books as scripts for puppet shows or plays.  (Any other early literacy specialists out there know that RETELL is also an important part of reading instruction).  

  

3- The books use real words.  This makes it easier to use context clues and phonetics to figure out unfamiliar words.  ‘Jertain’ and ‘Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz’ are certainly fun and silly to say, but context clues are useless to figure them out and can frustrate the newest readers.


4-Speaking of context clues...the PICTURES are so clear and simple, so concrete. Yet somehow they convey the meaning of the story so perfectly, that it is easy for a child stuck on a word to look at the pictures and determine what the word should be or the emotion with which the words should be expressed.  How do you do that, Mo?  How do you get one simple line across a pig’s eye lid to say so much? 


5-The Elephant  and Piggie books are quite simply put.... hilarious!  Laugh out loud funny.  Tears in your eye funny.  Appropriately funny.   My children and the adults in our family giggle every time we read the “Piggie and Elephant” books, whether it is the first time or the 37th.  (There is no need to pander to bathroom humor or jokes above the kids’ heads).  We all think the books are truly funny.  

6-According to the official Mo Willems website, each book is reviewed by early childhood reading specialists before publication!  (Something I didn’t know before working on this article).  I feel even better as a parent knowing that not only does my gut tell me this is good, quality, children’s literature, the “experts” agree as well.  


7-Most Elephant and Piggie books teach valuable lessons, without being too preachy.  Friends are better than toys. (I Love My New Toy).  Being outside is fun in all kinds of weather  (Are You Ready to Play Outside?).  Asking politely can make things better. (There’s A Bird On My Head).  There isn’t always just one right way to do something. (Elephants Can’t Dance).    Lots of Dr. Seuss books do teach valuable lessons, too.  But it is hard to find in his early readers.  I am not quite deep enough to find the moral of the ABC Book, the Foot Book, or Hop on Pop.   


8-Most importantly, I love the Piggie and Elephant Books because they give my son CONFIDENCE as a reader.  He can pick one up and know that he can read it with fluency and expression.  He knows he will laugh.  He knows he will enjoy himself.  And what can any parent want more for their son, then for him to LOVE to read.  





***I want to be clear that I do honor Dr. Seuss as a Founding Father of all that is good in children’s literature.  There would be no Mo Willems without Dr. Seuss and his legacy.  I have laughed at his silly absurdities with my kindergarteners and my own three children.  I have read his inspired lessons about Sneetches with “stars upon thars” with my fourth grade students, who were struggling to fit in or to include everyone.  I have even been inspired myself as a young adult, during a particularly difficult time in my life, by one of his lesser known books I Had Trouble Getting to Solla Sollew.
 

But for new readers, I think Mo Willems has Dr. Seuss beat.  Once my son is ready, he will be able  to read Dr. Seuss to himself.    But for now, I will read Dr. Seuss to him and HE will read  Mr. Willems’  Elephant and Piggie books to me.   He reaches for them each day...and we never tire of them.  Thank you for your wonderful books, Mo Willems.  Thanks for helping my son LOVE to read, and for helping the job of teaching him to read be such an enjoyable experience.   

***Mo Willems also has another early reader series, the Cat the Cat books.  We love those as well for most of the same reasons we love Elephant and Piggie!  And of course we love his famous Pigeon and his Knuffle Bunny and Leonoardo and Amanda and.......many more friends.  

On June 18th, 2012, Mommy and Me Book Club and over 20 other bloggers will be sharing our favorite Mo Willems books and activities to go along with them during the Summer Virtual Book Club.  We will even have a place for you to link up your favorites!  I hope you will join in the fun.

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus

Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems

Gathering: Shape Bus 

Materials Needed: construction paper and glue sticks

1-We used the pattern found here on the All Kids Network site.

2-Cut out the pieces for the activity before class.
3-Allow the children to assemble the bus using the pieces provided.

CircleTime


Read Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems

If you have followed my blog for long,you know that I LOVE Mo Willems!  And this is a perfect read aloud for Twos and Threes!  Pigeon begs the reader to allow him to drive the bus. He pleads,he bargains, and he demands.  The children had so much fun telling the Piegon "NO!" after each page! 

Of course we had to  sing “The Wheels on the Bus.” We added a verse  to the end, and we let the Pigeon drive the bus.  "The Pigeon on the bus, he drives, drives, drives..."


Art:  Handprint Pigeon

Materials Needed:Light Blue paint, large google eyes,yellow paper beaks,white construction paper collar, and orange crayons

1-Make a handprint with the blue paint.

2-Add a google eye,beak, and collar.

3-Draw two legs.

We found this great craft idea here on Creating and Teaching.  



Snack: Pigeon Rice Krispie Treats and Cheese Buses




These were so easy and so cute! Make your favorite rice krispie recipe and add just a couple of drops of blue food coloring. Shape into balls to make the pigeons' heads.  Add candy corn beaks and chocolate chip eyes!  

We used a bus cookie cutter to cut yellow cheese buses.

Activity: Let the Pigeons Drive the Bus

Create a 2 sided traffic sign (one side red for stop and one side green for go)

We let the children play a modified Red Light, Green Light.  We let them pretend to drive the bus when it was green and had them stop when the sign was red.  No one was sent back to the start.  They just had fun running.   They also took turns holding the sign.

"There Is a Bird on Your Head!"

Gathering Activity:   Bird Seed Sensory Table

We filled the sand and water table with bird seed, feathers, scoops, and plastic birds.  The children had a great time scooping, pouring, and pretending.  And the birds in our yard happily helped clean up any that accidentally found its way out of the table.

Circle Time: There Is A Bird on Your Head! by Mo Willems 

I discovered Mo Willems' Piggie and Elephant series about a year ago.   My son was learning to read and these were perfect.  They were the perfect length, the perfect reading level, well written and illustrated, and each one had a simple lesson.  But most importantly, they are HILARIOUS!   I have been waiting all year for spring to arrive so that I could share There Is a Bird on Your Head! with my mommy and me friends.  In the book, two birds build a nest on Elephant's head and lays three little eggs.  Then chicks are born on his head.  In the end, Elephant simply asks the birds to move, and they do (onto Piggie's head).   It is a cute lesson on using our words to express our desires.  

After we read the book we sang two songs/fingerplays.

Two Little Blackbirds  
 Two Little Blackbirds, sitting on a wall,
One named Peter, the other named Paul.
Fly away Peter, Fly away Paul.
Come back Peter, Come back Paul.

and

Birds in the Tree
We will find a little nest (cup hands together)
In the branches of a tree (hold arms up rounded over head).
Let us count the eggs inside;
There are one, two, three (hold up one, two, and three fingers).
Mother bird sits on the nest (cup left hand, place right hand on top)
To hatch the eggs, all three (hold up three fingers).
Father bird flies round and round (move arms in a flying motion)
To guard his family.

We also enjoyed a fun Eggs in Nest counting game we adapted from Preschool Express.  We created 5 little nests from paper bags and filled them with shredded paper bags.  They were numbered 1-5.  The children took turns filling the nests with the corresponding number of eggs.

Art: Bird Nests and Eggs

This project was adapted from ideas found on Teach Preschool and Busy Bee Crafts.

Materials Needed: Shredded grocery bags, cardboard circle, glue, one plastic egg, two orange construction paper beaks, and 4 paper wings.

Directions:
1-Spread glue on the cardboard circle.

2-Press shredded paper into the glue to create a nest.

3-Glue beak in between the two holes in the bottom of each egg half.  The holes are the eyes.  Add the wings.  (This part was pretty tricky and needed lots of Mommy help).

4-Glue the birdies into the nest.

Snack: Welcome Spring Bird's Nest

We loved these adorable nests featured on Sun Scholars and just had to make them for Mommy and Me. Click the link for full directions.

Games:  Nest Building and "There's A Bird on Your Head" Relay

1-Nest Building
Using found materials in the backyard, the children worked together to create a large nest.  They loved playing birds and flew about the yard gathering sticks and twigs.  And of course it was a lot of fun to climb inside our nest.

2-"There's A Bird on Your Head" Relay

We used a coonskin hat with the tail tucked in as a nest.  Plastic bird toys were placed inside.  The children took turns wearing the nest and walking across the yard.  It was great balancing practice and a fun way to retell the story!

We will be participating in The Come Outside to Play Challenge in April.  I'd love for you to join us!