Can I Play Too?-An Elephant and Piggie Book Hardcover – Illustrated, June 8, 2010

My family loves Piggy and Elephant, and this book "Can I play too?" by Mo Willems is another winner. The simple text and layout of each page leave room for so much imagination and play in reading. It's fun to use different voices and act out the emotions when reading. Mo Willem is a master at the use if subtlety in his writing style. Even though not much is written length wise, so much is said between these two best friends and their adventures and lessons together. In this book, Piggy and Elephant learn about friendship and including others, even differently-abled others. The way they adapt to include their new snake friend is sweet and hilarious. Piggy and Elephant books are also great books for teaching kids and talking with kids about feelings. A great plus, to have such a fun book where the main characters feel and express such a full range of emotions, appropriate and relatable to the kids (and parents!) who read them. This book, along with the other Mo Willem books in our collection, gets read over and over. Definitely recommend.

How do you play ball with a snake? That is the surface issue in this story, but the deeper one is helping everyone to have fun together, even if it appears that one of the group can't play. Gerald and Piggie try a number of ways to play ball with the snake, and their new playmate is game to try, as well. Nothing they try seems to work (my grandsons love reading the "BONKs" as the initial efforts are made), but they all persevere until a solution is found that makes all of the playmates happy. This is such a great lesson for little ones (and us big ones, too) that if we think outside the box, we can come up with solutions to involve those who may have different abilities from our own. The snake (and I am not a fan of snakes, in general) is a cute addition to the group and has a sense of humor when dealing with the differences between him and his 4-legged playmates. The simple illustrations are deceptive, as they add so much to the story and help emerging readers share in the story.

This series is my son’s favorite! The books are easy to read and follow, and they’re very popular in school too. His teacher highly recommends

As a Kindergarten teacher, I LOVE Gerald and Piggie books. They're cute, funny, expressive and my students fall in love with these characters year after year. Beginning readers love the fact that they can 'read' the books independently and my higher readers really CAN read them independently! The characters are best friends, kind and caring. Gerald can be loud, pessimistic and impatient, but aren't we all at times? Piggie is Gerald's best possible match for a BFF.This is a story about trying, even when the odds aren't in your favor. It's about including those who are different. It's about focusing on what you CAN do and choosing to be happy. It's about kindness, compassion, friendship and fun. And believe me, your little ones will laugh!

Great for early learners. Very entertaining. We loved the pictures.

Gifted

The story is cute. The first time my grandson and I read it together we laughed more than we ever have laughed together. He absolutely loved it. He also is learning to read with this series of books.

Perfekt for a gift. The kiddo was happy and so are we.