Fantasy

I Will Surprise My Friend!Mo Willems
Fantasy
Pre-K-2

          Do you like funny books with talking animal characters?  Do you like to laugh while you read?  Well then you should read “I Will Surprise My Friend” by Mo Willems.  This cute, funny book shows the friendship between two characters, Elephant Gerald and Piggie in their attempt to have fun and surprise each other.

          This book starts off with Elephant Gerald and Piggie walking by a squirrel.  They are unsure of what squirrel is doing hiding behind a rock and when they ask he answers “I am going to surprise my friend!”  After this occurs, Gerald and Piggie decide that they too want to surprise each other because it looked like so much fun!  This ends up in a comical situation in which Gerald and Piggie are both waiting to be surprised while sitting on opposite sides of a large rock.  Gerald starts to worry and Piggie gets hungry when they both get up, spooking each other to the ground!  They agree that this was a bad idea and the next time they’re bored, they’ll just play tag.

          This book is the type of modern fantasy that involves animals with human traits, such as walking around, talking and wearing glasses.  The main characters are Piggie and Gerald, who seem to be human.  They are fun, silly characters that children would love.  Because they are acting like humans, it would cause children to understand that this is an imaginary story because real animals do not actual act that way.  The setting of the story is unknown, and the only real information about it is that there are two rocks in the story, one small and one large, which are shown in the illustrations as well in the text.  The plot goes along and the conflict arises when they two are each waiting to be surprised.  You can tell by the text and the illustrations that the two friends go from confused, to worried, to scared, such as when Gerald thinks that a scary monster may be eating Piggie!  The theme of this book would be friendship and humor.  Even though Piggie and Gerald scared each other, they can laugh about it later and still be friends.  Sometimes it’s fun to be a little silly, and I think that it is important for young children to know that.  The author brings the reader into the story, making them laugh by his comical writing style.  Because he gives the characters human traits, he makes them seem realistic and likeable.

          I really enjoyed this book and thought that it was really funny.  I usually enjoy comical books, and I think that this is one that could be enjoyed by all ages.  I like the fantasy aspect of the book, and the characters have perfect human traits (friendship, worries, nervousness, fright).  I would put it into my classroom library indefinitely.  I think that this sort of book would make my students enjoy reading because it is so entertaining.  It would be valuable because there are few words, which makes it an easy reader for many students, whereas struggling readers would be able to read it too.  The illustrations make the book even better, showing the vivid emotions that the characters exhibit.

Frameworks:

RL PK.2: With prompting and support, retell a sequence of events from a story read aloud.
RL PK.3: With prompting and support, act out characters and events from a story or poem read aloud. (Because they are fun and you know how they are feeling during the story)
RL PK.6: With prompting and support, “read” the illustrations in a picture book by describing a character or place depicted, or by telling how a sequence of events unfolds. (Because the illustrations are silly and a young child would enjoy making up their own story.)
RL PK.7: With prompting and support, make predictions about what happens next in a picture book after examining and discussing the illustrations.