Waiting is not Easy

Waiting is not Easy! an Elephant and Piggie Book written and illustrated by Mo Willems. Hyperion Books for Children, 2014. ISBN 978-1-4231-9957-1

Reader's Annotation: Patience may be a virtue, but it is rarely easy, especially for an excited elephant who is waiting for a surprise.

Summary: Piggie has a surprise for his best friend, Gerald, who just happens to be an elephant. The surprise, however, is a surprise, and is not ready yet. Gerald tries to be patient, but his groans grow increasingly louder as the day goes on, because waiting is not easy at all. He tries persuasion, anger, conciliation, and exasperation, but Piggie remains zen like and assures Gerald that the waiting will be worth it.

As it begins to grow dark, Gerald panics and shouts that they have wasted the whole day. It is only then that Piggie's surprise is revealed. Willems triumphs yet again with this installment in his Elephant & Piggie series. The two lovable characters exemplify the ups and downs of childhood friendships and emotions. The next volume in this series is scheduled to be published in June of this year, and I'm sure it will be worth the wait.

Critical Evaluation: For children beginning to read independently, the Elephant & Piggie books are not only very funny, but are easy to follow with their large typefaces and well-defined bubbles of text. Gerald's dialogue is always in a gray bubble, and Piggie's in pink, which is helpful to children unfamiliar with the comic book style of storytelling. Willems varies the tone and volume of the dialogue through differences in the capitalization, size, and thickness of the letters.

The two characters are drawn simply, with a minimum of lines, but Willems still manages to convey a great deal of their thoughts and feelings through their expressions and body positions. Following up on the hugely successful Knuffle Bunny and Pigeon books, Willems has now written over twenty titles in this series, each focusing on a different topic such as sharing or friendship, but all of them relevant to children. 

Age or Interest Level: Ages 4 to 7

Lexile Level: BRL

Awards: 2015 Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Winner

Why Included? I have been a fan of everything Mo Willems for many years, and am so glad that he has written this series for children who are moving out of picture books and into independent reading.