My Friend Is Sad (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 My Friend is Sad, Gerald is sad. How can Piggie be happy if Gerald is sad?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781423102977
Publisher:	Disney Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/01/2007
Series:	Elephant and Piggie Series
Pages:	64
Sales rank:	14,153
Product dimensions:	6.70(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

Mo Willems is a six-time Emmy Award–winning writer and animator for Sesame Streetand the creator of Cartoon Network’s Sheep in the BigCity. He is the author of groundbreaking picture books, including; Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale (Caldecott Honor winner 2004); Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! (Caldecott Honor winner 2003); Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay up Late!; The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog!; Time to Say “Please”!; Leonardo, the Terrible Monster; and Edwina, the Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She Was Extinct. Mo lives with his family in Brooklyn, New York.

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Editorial Reviews

Willems (Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!) introduces two best friends in the paper-over-board Elephant & Piggie books: a naysaying gray bespectacled pachyderm and an optimistic pink porker, whose opposing temperaments serve as the bases for sparring and mutual understanding alike. When Piggie declares, "Today I Will Fly!," Elephant responds, in Green Eggs and Hamfashion: "You will not fly today./ You will not fly tomorrow./ .../ You will never fly!" "I will try!" Piggie asserts. She gets assistance from a mock-ferocious bulldog, whose barking does help her to jump (but not fly), and an amiable pelican who demonstrates how friends can lend a hand (er, wing). Energetic Piggie dons a series of costumes (cowboy, clown, robot) to boost sulky Elephant's spirits in My Friend Is Sad. Elephant does not cheer up until Piggie shows up sansdisguise: "I saw a cowboy!... But you were not there to see him!" Elephant laments. "I need my friends!" "You need new glasses...." Piggie whispers in an aside to readers, ending on a sly note. Willems treats each page (or spread) as one panel, so the action unfolds briskly against white backgrounds. He provides the emphatic dialogue in varying font sizes and keeps the design details simple but effective: Piggie's words appear in powdery rose-colored voice bubbles, Elephant's in pale blue-gray. Nevertheless, even inexperienced readers will not be busy long, whether or not they pause to chuckle at the dueling characters' changing facial expressions. Compared to Willems's more nuanced character studies, these episodes feel all too brief. Still, readers will likely clamor for more. Ages 4-8.(Apr.)

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