Title: Elephants Cannot Dance!
Author: Mo Willems
Illustrator: Mo Willems
Publisher: Hyperion Books
Year of Publication: 2009
Genre: Fiction
Horn Book or Kirkus Reviews rating: Horn Book gave this book a 2 rating.
Summary: Piggie wants to teach Gerald to dance. There is one problem though, elephants cannot dance!
Summary of Professional Reviews: The Horn Book talks about how the color-coded speech bubbles focus readers' attention on Willems' simple words and expressive illustrations. According to the Horn Book, "The easily understood story will provide instant reading success and lots of laughs."
Review by Alexis: Mo Willems' simple illustrations speak wonders, just like in most of his other books. Piggie and Gerald are simply drawn cartoon animals, but they show so many emotions throughout the entire book. The reader can feel Gerald's frustration with his inability to dance and they want to see how the story turns out. Also, Willems uses color-coded speech bubbles. The speech bubbles makes it easier for the reader to follow along with the text. Piggie's speech appears in pink bubbles and Gerald's appear in gray. I feel that the continuity with the speech would help a young reader comprehend the story better.
This book would be useful when teaching… This book would be useful to teach a preschool class about how a person treats their friend. Piggie supports Gerald throughout the entire book, so it would be good to use to show students how they can be a supportive friend.
This book would also be useful in a kindergarten or first grade class as a mini lesson on using dialogue in their writing. The teacher can show the students that they can use speech bubbles as one way to involve dialogue in their stories. In the next mini lesson, the teacher can use a book with dialogue involving quotation marks and they can compare and contrast the different dialogue methods the authors use.
Author: Mo Willems
Illustrator: Mo Willems
Publisher: Hyperion Books
Year of Publication: 2009
Genre: Fiction
Horn Book or Kirkus Reviews rating: Horn Book gave this book a 2 rating.
Summary: Piggie wants to teach Gerald to dance. There is one problem though, elephants cannot dance!
Summary of Professional Reviews: The Horn Book talks about how the color-coded speech bubbles focus readers' attention on Willems' simple words and expressive illustrations. According to the Horn Book, "The easily understood story will provide instant reading success and lots of laughs."
Review by Alexis: Mo Willems' simple illustrations speak wonders, just like in most of his other books. Piggie and Gerald are simply drawn cartoon animals, but they show so many emotions throughout the entire book. The reader can feel Gerald's frustration with his inability to dance and they want to see how the story turns out. Also, Willems uses color-coded speech bubbles. The speech bubbles makes it easier for the reader to follow along with the text. Piggie's speech appears in pink bubbles and Gerald's appear in gray. I feel that the continuity with the speech would help a young reader comprehend the story better.
This book would be useful when teaching… This book would be useful to teach a preschool class about how a person treats their friend. Piggie supports Gerald throughout the entire book, so it would be good to use to show students how they can be a supportive friend.
This book would also be useful in a kindergarten or first grade class as a mini lesson on using dialogue in their writing. The teacher can show the students that they can use speech bubbles as one way to involve dialogue in their stories. In the next mini lesson, the teacher can use a book with dialogue involving quotation marks and they can compare and contrast the different dialogue methods the authors use.