Today I Will Fly!-An Elephant and Piggie Book

An eager pig is the star of this totally zany storybook.

I am 27 years old, have 0 children, 1 Master's degree in Speech Communication, and love to read books by Mo Willems. I find his books to be inspiring, philosophical, witty, interesting and visually enthralling. This is my current favorite book, although it's hard to claim a favorite when you know that with Willems- the best is yet to come!

Today I Will Fly! (Elephant and Piggie) The Elephant and Piggie books FLY out of my classroom for home reading and are in great demand at the reading table~~better than Seuss for high interest. Contains just the right amount of text for beginning readers and lots of high frequency word practice. I've been teaching K-2 for 32 years and haven't seen this kind of excitement over a book series from very young readers. Mo Willems is a teacher's dream come true!

Having a 4 year old on the edge of the autism spectrum is a blessing and a curse -- sure, she taught herself to read at the age of 3, but try finding something she *wants* to read out loud. Even better, find something that helps teach natural speech intonation and provides massive opportunities to explore feelings, emotion and humor -- how great would that be for a kid with significant social and speech delays? (Oh, wait -- that would be Elephant and Piggie! They act out simple, short and funny stories, full of emotion and humor. The dialog (and it's pretty much all dialog) is also short, fun, repetitive, and presented in color coded speech bubbles, so you always know who's speaking. Basically, an early reader's dream come true. My daughter is in love with the cute little girl pig (did I mention she was *pink*?) and about the second time through said, "I'll be Piggie". So now she reads/acts Piggie's dialog while the rest of us read/act for Gerald the elephant and the various other bit parts. Her dramatic reading intonation is improving (you can tell questions from exclamations by tone, now) and she enjoys the humor of the stories as well, often incorporating the scripts into her regular speech -- on our way to the airport she started saying, "Today I will fly!" in her Piggie voice. (Needless to say, we replied "You will not fly today. YOU WILL NEVER FLY!" just like Gerald.) Even my 7 year old enjoys them, and will often volunteer to play a small role (like the dog or duck). The books are just so well written -- so well *crafted* -- that they're just a pleasure to read. After wading through rivers of drek trying to pass for childen's "literature", I just can't recommend these books highly enough. These books feel as classic as Seuss and as humorous as Boynton, and for an asd kid who's also an early reader, they're a double blessing. (Oh -- about my comment concerning feelings and emotions, I'm referring merely to wonderful illustrations of Gerald and Piggie and the emotions they convey. It provides us with a chance to say things like, "Does Gerald look skeptical? I don't think he believes his friend Piggie can really fly," and "Wow, Gerald really looks surprised! Is he surprised because Piggie is flying?" More humorous twist at the end than touchy-feely ;-) How on earth can a cartoon elephant look so skeptical, anyway?

Mo Willems is a master illustrator and storyteller. Typically, he uses just a few characters, a simple and somewhat absurd plot, and slight illustrations--basic shapes, lines and arrows. Within this minimalist framework, however, he has no peer."Today I Will Fly," for example, is a smark, sly take on the skeptical expression that something will happen "when pigs fly," i.e., never. However, "never" is not a given in Willems' twisting of readers' expectations. The elephant, Gerard, who stands in an adult role (complete with professorial glasses), scoffs at young, wide-eyed Piggie's declaration that "Today, I will fly." Gerard's repeated negations reach a crescendo of adult nay-saying: "You will not fly today. You will not fly tomorrow. You will not fly next week. YOU WILL NEVER FLY!" Piggy, ever the optimist, says simply, "I will try," as Gerard looks out at the audience with disbelief and frustration. What follows--on an adult level--is a discourse on semantics and boundaries. Kids will just love the hilarious pursuit of flight bu the inexperienced, opimistic pig. First, Piggie runs across the page, flapping her arms (!), and repeats the word, "fly," ten times, as if she could will herself to flight. Elephant replies, "you need help," undoubtedly referring to a porcine psychologist somewhere. Piggie takes this at face value, and thanks Gerard for his advice. In Piggie's second attempt, she enlists the help of a sharp=toothed dog: Piggy is so scared that she jumps on top of Gerard's head. Her fear of the dog soon turns to pride: "I did it! I flew!" The exasperated (so much so, that Gerard falls off his head) Gerard replies, "You did not fly. YOU JUMPED!" The undaunted pig declares, "I will try again," and on her third attempt, she suspends herself from the beak of a friendly pelican. Gerard has a change of heart--or maybe he's just in a better mood because he just had lunch. Dancing, Gerard sings, "My friend can fly! She can fly!" Abruptly, as kids often do, Piggie changes her tune: "I am not flying! I am geting help." Willems concludes with a delightful role switch: As if turning over a new leaf and embracing his "inner child," the newly optimistic Gerard says, "Tomorrow, I will fly!" Piggie, cupping his mouth in an aside, utters these parting words to Gerard and the reader: "Good luck." Droll, spare, but full of action and emotion, "Today I Will Fly" is another gem in the Mo Willems's never-failing search for humor in simple situations. Very highly recommended.

I love all of Mo's writings, but the wittiness of this book puts it in a class by itself. The print on each page is, at most, 7 or 8 words. I thought at first it was "below" my second graders. But the ability for them make inferences was heightened by this well thought-out picture book. The pictures showing the annoyance of the elephant and the hopefulness of the pig only added to its teachable moments. It's a perfect piece for fluency practice and reader's theater as well! Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale (Bccb Blue Ribbon Picture Book Awards (Awards))