Harold & Hog Pretend for Real! (Elephant & Piggie Like Reading! Series)

by Dan Santat, Mo Willems

Overview

Harold and Hog pretend with the roles they were born to play . . . but which roles are they've


Hog is careful. Harold is not.
Harold cannot help smiling. Hog can.
Hog worries so that Harold does not have to.


Harold and Hog are best friends. But can Harold and Hog's friendship survive a game of pretending to be Elephant & Piggie?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781368027168
Publisher:	Disney Publishing Group
Publication date:	05/07/2019
Series:	Elephant & Piggie Like Reading! Series , #6
Pages:	64
Sales rank:	77,701
Product dimensions:	6.60(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	270L (what's this?)
Age Range:	6 - 8 Years

About the Author

Dan Santat is the author and illustrator of the Caldecott Award-winning The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend, as well as The Cookie Fiasco, Are We There Yet?, and others. He is also the creator of Disney's animated hit, The Replacements. Dan lives in Southern California with his wife, two kids, and two dogs. Visit him at dantat.com.

Editorial Reviews

05/01/2019

PreS-Gr 2–Santat and Willems pair up a hilarious installment in the series with a hysterical portrayal of metafiction for kids. Harold and Hog are huge fans of Gerald and Piggie. So much so, they decide to play dress up and pretend to be them. Harold dons glasses, and Hog wears a "Piggie" nose over his own, but it is far more of a challenge when it comes to embodying their personalities. Hog is not as carefree as Piggie, and Harold doesn't quite understand what it means to be careful like Gerald. This realization is a test of Harold and Hog's friendship—how can they be best friends like Gerald and Piggie if they can't be like them? Just as in every "Elephant and Piggie" book, friendship is tested and readers are led to a satisfying ending. Santat's detailed art style mirrors Willems's simplicity, but is distinct enough to let readers know that they are in a different world than his. Willems's readers will be thrilled at the choices that Santat makes in art and text, subtle and overt. Whether if it's picking up on the "stage" they create or when a familiar Easter egg is used, all will have readers rolling with laughter. VERDICT A fun addition for most libraries, perfect for fans of Gerald and Piggie.–Danielle Jones, Multnomah County Library, OR

School Library Journal

★ 2019-03-03

This meta-early reader begins (between the end pages and the title page) with the famous duo Elephant and Piggie expressing excitement about reading a book about a pig and an elephant who happen to be best friends, just like them.

Piggie holds a copy of Harold & Hog Pretend for Real!—which is identical to the book readers are holding, leading them to believe that the characters are reading the same book. Piggie and elephant Gerald then open the cover of the book just as elephant Harold and Hog push it open from the inside, and the story seamlessly shifts to the latter pair's perspective. Harold and Hog—illustrated with depth and fairly realistically, compared to the cartoonlike Piggie and Gerald—are excited to see the famous duo, and Harold suggests they pretend to be them. Harold then produces round, wire-rimmed glasses for himself and a cartoon pig's snout for Hog so that they can pretend "for real." Unfortunately, Hog is "too CAREFUL to be Piggie," and Harold is "too CAREFREE to be Gerald!" The question then arises: Can Harold and Hog's friendship survive this game? Building on the popular Elephant and Piggie books and with the frame story contributed by Mo Willems, Santat creates yet another early reader that is at once playful, self-aware, and perceptive in its exploration of the differences of personalities and the complications (or simplicities) of friendship.

A hoot for readers who already know Elephant and Piggie. (Early reader. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews