Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Genre #1: Picture Books - MY FRIEND IS SAD


Bibliographic Data:

Willems, Mo. 2007. My Friend Is Sad. New York: Hyperion Books. ISBN 1423102975

Plot Summary:

In this ELEPHANT & PIGGIE book, Gerald the elephant is sad. His friend Piggie notices Gerald’s sadness and strives to cheer him up by putting on different acts, from a cowboy to a robot. Despite Piggie’s efforts, Gerald remains sad because, as he later explains, he was unable to share these things with his friends. In the end, both Gerald and Piggie recognize the importance of their friendship.

Critical Analysis:

With its simple illustrations focused on the characters of Gerald and Piggie, this book speaks a great deal about the influence of friendship on one’s life and happiness. Combining the poses and facial expressions of the characters with different font sizes for dialogue, Willems invites the reader to feel and empathize with Gerald’s sadness and Piggie’s whole-hearted attempts to help his friend overcome this sadness.

Each page is full of ample white space, allowing the reader to focus more attention on the two characters that are central to the story. Additionally, the contrast in the colors used for Gerald (gray) and Piggie (pink) provide a clear distinction for the reader, as they can easily identify which character is speaking. Towards the end, the two characters are seen more often on a page together, thus furthering the plot as it gets closer to a resolution regarding Gerald’s sadness.

The reader gets a laugh in the end when Piggie says that Gerald needs new glasses, as he failed to notice that all of the costumed characters were, in fact, Piggie herself. In the end, the simplicity of the text meshed with the simplicity of the illustrations drives home the underlying simple truth that friendship is important.

Review excerpts:

Starred review from Booklist – “accessible, appealing, and full of authentic emotions…”

School Library Journal – “the stories move briskly, with a minimal word count and touches of whimsy throughout”

Personal Reaction:

I enjoyed this book because of how it embraces friendship and all of its quirks. I could completely identify with Gerald’s plight as he recognized the importance of sharing fun activities with friends instead of alone. Gerald’s intense reactions resonated with my own experiences, allowing me to dive into the book immediately. I would definitely enjoy reading more about the adventures of Gerald and Piggie as they continue exploring the world as friends.

Connections:

Activities

· Brainstorm ways to cheer up your friends when they are sad.

· Describe a time when your friend went to great effort to cheer you up. Discuss how that
made you feel.

· Make a Venn diagram to highlight both the ways in which you are unique and the things
that you have in common with your friend.

Related Readings

Friendship
Dog and Bear: Two Friends, Three Stories by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Wombat & Bandicoot, Best of Friends: Three Stories by Kerry Argent

Titch and Daisy by Pat Hutchins

More ELEPHANT & PIGGIE books
I Am Invited to a Party! by Mo Willems

Today I Will Fly by Mo Willems

There Is A Bird on Your Head by Mo Willems

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