Baby Librarian Marian reviews the funny reader The Thank You Book by Mo Willems.
Marian reviews The Thank You Book
This book is about a pig that wants to thank everybody, and an elephant who doesn’t think the pig can do it. Why would the elephant doubt the pig? That doesn’t seem very nice. I understand why the pig got so frustrated with the elephant, and wanted to prove him wrong. I do the exact same thing with Mommy and the trashcan, when she tells me I can’t play with it. I show her I ABSOLUTELY CAN play with the trashcan. It seems to frustrate her, which I like to do sometimes.
I like that the book is from the perspective of a pig because pigs are in Old MacMarian Had a Farm, a song Mommy sings to me. They go oink oink oink, though the pig in this book can talk like adults. I love all the different characters in this book! The pig thanks each one, and Mommy does voices for each character. This is a great book for voices!
It’s also funny that the pig’s name if Piggie, but the elephant’s name is Gerald. Why doesn’t Piggie get a human name? I would call Piggie Baby, because that’s one of the words I’m saying right now.
“Thank you” must be an important phrase. It’s said a lot in this book. I’m still considering whether I want to say it or not. Maybe if Mommy reads me enough books with that phrase, I’ll remember the words. If I want to.
Margaret reviews The Thank You Book
Mo Willems is one of the best known contemporary children’s book authors, but Marian and I have only read two of his books so far. Thus, we missed some context in The Thank You Book. As Marian described, Piggie decides to thank everyone they know, but Gerald the elephant is dubious that this is possible. To prove Gerald wrong, Piggie begins thanking every creature from Mo Willems’ books. Since we’ve only read two, we didn’t know any character but the pigeon. For kids who have read other books by Mo Willems, it will probably be fun to spot all the familiar characters.
It’s fun to see Piggie become exasperated with Gerald, knowing who Piggie is forgetting, and then being surprised. This would be a nice reader for preschoolers, especially if you’re trying to teach them please and thank you.