Can I Play Too? (An Elephant and Piggie Book) [Hardcover]

Mo Willems (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up | Series: Elephant and Piggie

Gerald is careful. Piggie is not. Piggie cannot help smiling. Gerald can.

Gerald and Piggie are best friends.

 

In Can I Play Too? Gerald and Piggie meet a new snake friend who wants to join in a game of catch. But don't you need arms to catch?

 

Mo Willems’ Geisel Award-winning duo never fails to tickle readers of all ages. Like previous Elephant & Piggie Books, this adventure has been vetted by an early learning specialist and emerging learners themselves. It turns reading into play!

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

K-Gr 2–This beginning reader focuses on differently abled animals as Elephant and Piggy get ready for a game of catch. Before they begin, Snake asks to join them. Simple gestures and facial expressions convey Elephant's embarrassment at Snake's inability to catch a ball. Piggy breaks the silence stating, “You don't have arms!” and Snake dejectedly slithers away. On the next page, Snake diffuses his rejection by saying, “Hee-hee! Ha-ha! Hee-hee! Ha-ha! Hee-hee! I know I do not have arms./I am a snake.” Elephant asks, “But can a snake play catch?” The story moves from clever to cruel as Elephant throws the ball and hits Snake on the head, and the reptile's expressions indicate distress. Piggy follows suit, with the same result. Then Elephant decides, “Maybe we need more balls,” and the next spread shows Elephant and Piggy bombarding Snake with balls, each one hitting him with a “BONK!” and Snake upside down in anguish. Then Piggy gets the idea to use Snake as the ball. Snake happily says, “Whee!” to which Piggy replies, “I love playing catch with my friends!” While all ends on a positive note, Jeanne Willis's Susan Laughs (Holt, 2000) and Grace Maccarone's The Gym Day Winner (Scholastic, 1996) offer more respectful treatments of inclusion.Laura Scott, Farmington Community Library, MI
© Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

From Booklist

As is often the case in Elephant and Piggie’s adventures, they start this one in bliss—happily planning to play catch. But then Snake shows up, and, boy, he’d like to play, too. Once again, Willems wrings maximum humor and melodrama out of spare pencil drawings and the simplest of setups. Snake, you see, is not like Elephant and Piggie—he has no arms—and this allows Willems to take on understanding differences, accepting shortcomings, and sticking up for friends. A minor entry into the series, perhaps, but a worthy one. Preschool-Grade 2. --Daniel Kraus

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 64 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion Book CH; 1 edition (June 8, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1423119916
• ISBN-13: 978-1423119913
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,058 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #57 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > Animals > General > Fiction
  • #68 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > People & Places > Social Situations > Friendship

More About the Author

A three-time Caldecott Honor winner for Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale, and Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity, Mo Willems has also won two Geisel Medals for There is a Bird on Your Head! and Are You Ready to Play Outside? And his books are perennial New York Times bestsellers. Before he turned to children's books, Mo was a writer and animator on Sesame Street, where he won six Emmy Awards. Mo lives with his family in Massachusetts.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Funny as always!, June 11, 2010

By 

Ulyyf "Connie" (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Can I Play Too? (An Elephant and Piggie Book) (Hardcover)

Elephant and Piggie is one of THE best early-reader series out there.

It's simple. The pictures are helpful, but not TOO helpful. Most importantly - it's not boring! The books are short, containing few words, but the repetition is FUNNY and not too intrusive. ("You do not have arms." "I DO NOT HAVE ARMS?!?!?") It's got to be HARD to write funny books for kids this young. Honestly, I don't think I could do it! And to write one that the kid will want to read over and over again - well! I don't know how Mo Willems does it, frankly.

My favorite part of this book? Hm. Has to be either Snake's (pretend) freakout upon being told that he has no arms OR Piggie's idea, after Snake fails to catch the ball several times, that maaaaaybe what they really need is MORE BALLS! (This works exactly as well as you'd expect.)

Please - check out a copy of this, and other Elephant and Piggie books at your local library. Your resident early reader will thank you for it later :)

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Can I Play Too?, July 1, 2010

By 

S. Hurd (Indiana) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Can I Play Too? (An Elephant and Piggie Book) (Hardcover)

Elephant and Piggie have made a new friend. But there is a problem. Their new friend, Snake, wants to play catch with them. But Snake has no hands! How Elephant and Piggie solve the problem so they can play catch with Snake is funny and satisfying.

The illustrations on this book match the text perfectly. They are clear, and the characters facial expressions are drawn so they are easy for kids to understand. The simple text is accessible to the beginning reader, and the humor makes for a book that kids will want to read again and again.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious read, September 8, 2010

By 

Debbie's World of Books "Debbie's World of Books" (Union City, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Can I Play Too? (An Elephant and Piggie Book) (Hardcover)

Normally I wait a week or two after we read a book to write about it to see how long my daughter's interest lasts. This book was such a hit I had to gush right away. She loved it! We read it 3 times in a row and she was begging to read it again. I finally had to tell her we would read it again tomorrow and it was time for bed. The book is about a snake that wants to try and play catch with the piggie and elephant despite having no arms. As you can guess they do not have much luck. The story is hilarious and my daughter could not stop laughing. The second and third times through she was giggling in anticipation before we even got to the funny parts.