Waiting Is Not Easy! (Elephant and Piggie Series)

by Mo Willems

Overview

Gerald is careful. Piggie is not.
Piggie cannot help smiling. Gerald can.
Gerald worries so that Piggie does not have to.

Gerald and Piggie are best friends.

In Waiting Is Not Easy!, Piggie has a surprise for Gerald, but he is going to have to wait for it. And Wait. And wait some more...

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781423199571
Publisher:	Hyperion Books for Children
Publication date:	11/04/2014
Series:	Elephant and Piggie Series
Pages:	64
Sales rank:	445
Product dimensions:	6.60(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	BR (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Mo Willems (www.pigeonpresents.com), a number one New York Times best-selling author and illustrator, has been awarded a Caldecott Honor on three occasions (for Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale, and Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity). Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! was also an inaugural inductee into the Indies Choice Picture Book Hall of Fame. And his celebrated Elephant & Piggie early-reader series has been awarded the Theodor Seuss Geisel Medal on two occasions (for There Is a Bird on Your Head! and Are You Ready to Play Outside?) as well as garnering four Honors (for We Are in a Book!, I Broke My Trunk!, Let's Go for a Drive! and A Big Guy Took My Ball!). Other favorites include Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed and City Dog, Country Frog, illustrated by Jon J Muth. Mo lives with his family in Massachusetts.


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Editorial Reviews

*"These books will easily take their place alongside Seuss and Eastman as classics in the beginning-reader genre."—The Bulletin (starred review)

*"These masterful mini-dramas will delight and amuse early-reader and picture-book audiences, alike."—School Library Journal (starred review)

PRAISE FOR THE ELEPHANT & PIGGIE SERIES
*"Accessible, appealing, and full of authetic emotions about what makes friendships tick, these titles will put a contemporary shine on easy reader collections."—Booklist (starred review)

From the Publisher

02/01/2015
K-Gr 2—Gerald and Piggie are sharing another adventure in the latest book in the series. The expected large print, spare dialogue, and bubble delivery make it easy to read. Gerald loses patience with Piggie when he is told that a surprise is in store but that he must wait for it. His reactions include producing several loud GROANS and reminding Piggie repeatedly that waiting is NOT easy. Piggie knows that the surprise is worth the wait, but she has to keep Gerald there to see it. The simple words and expressive illustrations, as always, reveal the fact that we often overlook the obvious and that there is beauty all around us. Nothing brings greater joy than sharing that beauty with our friends. VERDICT This original story is about friendship, but it also offers insights into human emotions.—Janene Corbin, Rosebank Elementary School, Nashville, TN

School Library Journal

2014-11-05
Gerald the elephant learns a truth familiar to every preschooler—heck, every human: "Waiting is not easy!"When Piggie cartwheels up to Gerald announcing that he has a surprise for him, Gerald is less than pleased to learn that the "surprise is a surprise." Gerald pumps Piggie for information (it's big, it's pretty, and they can share it), but Piggie holds fast on his basic principle: Gerald will have to wait. Gerald lets out an almighty "GROAN!" Variations on this basic exchange occur throughout the day; Gerald pleads, Piggie insists they must wait; Gerald groans. As the day turns to twilight (signaled by the backgrounds that darken from mauve to gray to charcoal), Gerald gets grumpy. "WE HAVE WASTED THE WHOLE DAY!…And for WHAT!?" Piggie then gestures up to the Milky Way, which an awed Gerald acknowledges "was worth the wait." Willems relies even more than usual on the slightest of changes in posture, layout and typography, as two waiting figures can't help but be pretty static. At one point, Piggie assumes the lotus position, infuriating Gerald. Most amusingly, Gerald's elephantine groans assume weighty physicality in spread-filling speech bubbles that knock Piggie to the ground. And the spectacular, photo-collaged images of the Milky Way that dwarf the two friends makes it clear that it was indeed worth the wait. A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends. (Early reader. 6-8)

Kirkus Reviews

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