Customer Reviews

Elephants Cannot Dance! (An Elephant and Piggie Book)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

There aren't many easy reader series out there that are as funny as the Elephant and Piggy books. These have very simple illustrations and a lot of very emotional turns of phrase, so hopefully you can start from the beginning keeping kids from developing that awful droning readaloud voice so many children have.

The trouble in this book is that no matter what Piggy does to teach Gerald how to dance, he cannot - it says so in the book of what elephants can do. Eventually he gets frustrated and throws a tantrum... which is quickly adopted by the local squirrels as "the Elephant dance". Guess Elephants can dance after all :)

Best moment? Has to be when Piggy says "Jump when I say three" and Gerald is a full two pages behind the beat.

Mo Willems is a wonderful author for children. He captures the concerns of children in nuanced and humorous text, and the illustrations are just incredibly beguiling. His new book, "Elephants Cannot Dance" is another winner.

Gerald is convinced that "elephants cannot dance" but Piggie responds, "You are kidding me." Gerald says, "Look it up" and hands Piggie a book detailing "What Elephants Can Do". I don't want to give away any more of the delightful repartee. Read it and enjoy!

Creating easy readers that adults can enjoy reading must be extremely difficult. Mo Willems creates them superbly.

Mo Willems uses Piggie and Gerald to tell the most important lessons in life: friends are more important than things; when life gives you lemons, make lemonade; be proud of being you (this book); and honesty is the best policy.

A pig, an elephant, some squirrels, and a couple of worms are some of the characters that make these books so absolutely lovable. Any Piggie and Gerald book would be a safe buy.

These Elephant and Piggie books are great fun. In "Elephants Cannot Dance!" Piggie wants to teach Gerald to dance. He shows her though that on page 11 of the "What Elephants Can Do" handbook that it says that elephants can't dance. To which the irrepressible Piggie answers: Gerald, it does not say that you cannot try!

This book is great fun and as usual there's a Mo twist to the plot that will entertain small fry and teach them a small life lesson. And like all of Mo's work, it's a great read-aloud and primer. (AR folks say it's at the 1st Grade Reading Level)

Pam T~
mom and reviewer at BooksForKids-reviews

Love, love, love, this book. The kids love this book. All three of them, under age 9, thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was funny, smart, easy to read. And my kids actually love to act out the parts of Piggie, Elephant, and squirrels. They laugh out-loud every single time the book is read! My youngest child (only 3) memorized the entire book. The book shipped quickly and was packaged perfectly!

Personally, not my favorite. But then I am not a child for whom the books were written and my son does love them! I like the great expressions and displays of emotions, the examples of friendship and the try attitude. This story shows then just when you think you can't do something maybe the way you do it is ok too!

I don't think this series can do any wrong. Gerald typically gets down on himself when Piggies takes it upon herself to teach all the local animals how to dance. But of course Gerald is incapable of doing so no matter how positive Piggie is. It's funny, hysterical, and surprisingly observant on how things in life work out.

We LOVE Mo Willems, our son can't get enough of his books and not only reads them out loud to us but spends hours drawing the characters and remembering the different plots and funny lines from all the books. Great addition to your early reader's library.

All Elephant and Piggie books are entertaining and fun for preschoolers and young elementary students. My granddaughter is four, and she just started her first dance class recently. I knew she needed this book. She loved it, of course!

I really am going to have to write Mo Willems a letter and thank him for quadrupling my son's vocabulary. Between Piggie and Gerald, Knuffle Bunny and the Pigeon, he says new words all the time! This is a great book for parents to read (over and over again) since it's humorous. I really don't get tired of reading any of the Elephant and Piggie books. In this one Piggie tries to teach Gerald to dance but Gerald is always getting it wrong. Very fun to move hands and legs while reading. A great book!