Willems, M. (2007). My Friend Is Sad. New York, NY: Hyperion Books for Children.
Brief Annotation: In another one of Willem's popular 'Elephant and Piggie' books, Elephant comes down with a case of the blues. Piggie, concerned for his friend, takes it upon himself to cheer his friend up. Piggie knows that Elephant loves cowboys, clowns, and robots, so he dresses up like new characters to attempt to cheer Elephant up. His costumes are too good though; Elephant continues to be sad, only now it's because he thinks his good friend Piggie missed out on seeing all these new characters! At the end Elephant decides what he needs to cheer him up, and it isn't cowboys, clowns, or robots....
Genre: Animal Fantasy
Grade Level: Pre-K through 2
Readers who will like this: Younger children who are beginning to understand their emotions, teachers who are doing lessons on expressions and emotion.
Response/Rating (1-4): ****. I love Mo Willem's 'Pigeon' series and I was excited to read the new series. It didn't disappoint. It's a funny, charming, and important book for younger audiences. I believe the message behind the story is really important and comes across very clear and true.
One question you would ask before a read aloud: What do you do to cheer up when you are sad? What kinds of things make you happy?
Ask me to see Willems' latest book, City Dog, Country Frog which was a predicted contender for this year's Caldecott Award (although Jon Muth would have won for illustration). It didn't win, but it's well illustrated and the story is very sweet.
ReplyDeleteI'm a Willems fan, too. Check out his website.