The End of Elephant & Piggie: Say It Ain't So!

Am I  the only one whose heart broke a little bit when Mo Willems announced that The Thank You Book (which was published last May) would be the final Elephant and Piggie book? Sure, I can sympathize with Willems' desire to spread his wings creatively (which he elucidates in this interview with The Washington Post). A huge part of me, though, wanted to throw a tantrum to rival that of any four year old and demand "More Elephant & Piggie now!".   

Gerald the Elephant and his best friend Piggie the pig were first introduced to young readers in 2007 with the simultaneous publication of My Friend is Sad and Today I will Fly. On a side note, I have always wondered why the elephant has a real name and the pig is just called Piggie. Well, I guess that I am not the only one curious about this because Mo Willems explains his character's names in the FAQ section of his website. According to Mo: Piggie does have a name. Her is "Piggie". She was named that because when she was born she looked just like a little piggie. Elephant Gerald is named after my favorite singer (say it fast).

All 25 books in the Elephant & Piggie series are easy readers done in a comic book style with Gerald's words appearing in grey speech bubbles and Piggie's in pink. Personally, I find the majority of easy reader books to be watching-paint-dry dull. Nothing against authors of easy readers but often the simplified text results in a story that is trite and boring. This is not true with Willem's Elephant & Piggie series. Yes, the text is appropriate for beginning readers, but the stories will have readers of all ages rolling on the floor with a case of the giggles. In fact, I have frequently used Elephant & Piggie books to demonstrate how to write dialogue with my young authors club.  The tweens and teens in my group love Elephant & Piggie just as much as any kindergartner. There are multiple printables online for older kids involving Elephant & Piggie such as this adlib and this fill in the  comic.

What better way to channel my grief than by throwing an Elephant & Piggie party at the library? Since our community did not have school on November 8th I went with an Election Day theme for the party. The library was decorated with Vote for Elephant and Vote for Piggie signs, Elephant & Piggie balloons and pictures, and we had a special Elephant and Piggie election booth.

After voting the kids were able to show further support for their candidate by choosing an Elephant or Piggie party blower. And just in case you are interested Piggie won in a landslide.

As far as other party activities, I was definitely inspired by some of my favorite Elephant & Piggie books.

Kids were able to pose for a picture as Gerald or Piggie in the We Are In a Book cutout that I made. I bought the pig nose at the dollar store and the elephant trunk was actually a clip on wolf tail that I found at Target around Halloween. I just turned it around and ran elastic string through so kids could put it over their face.






















For a craft we decorated paper ice cream cones perfect for sharing (or not sharing) with Piggie.

 

One of the games that the kids seemed to enjoy the most was the bird nest balance walk. I made bird nests out of foam bowls and brown construction paper, and glued a paper Pigeon (another fantastic character created by Willems) in the bottom. The kids then had to race to a set of plastic cones and back while balancing the nests on their heads. I had kids of all ages at this party and I have to tell you that it amazed me how entertained the older kids were by this game. I had nine and ten year old boys that spent half the party walking around with bird nests on their heads.

Of course, no party would be complete without dancing! For extra fun I threw out a bunch of pink and blue balloons with Gerald and Piggie faces drawn on them.