My Friend is Sad (An Elephant and Piggie Book)

Just be warned once you buy your child one of these books, you will eventually have to get the whole set! Not sure what it is about these books, but my daughter is obsessed. I work in education, so I can say that it's very common. Once one of my students reads one book, they cannot wait to read the rest of the series! These are simple easy books with simple graphics. My daughter is a 2nd grader who reads at about a 5-6 level, and she absolutely loves these books. She reads them over and over, and it takes her about 2 minutes to read one full book. Each of these books has a subliminal life lesson as well. They focus on feelings, without making feelings an awkward subject. Highly recommend them, even if your child is an advanced reader...they will still love these. I initally felt like they were a waste of money because they're so easy for my daugter to read, but after I saw how much she genuinely loves them, they were worth every penny. She especially loves reading them to her little cousins and friends. They have a lot of expression (yelling, excited, ALL CAP WORDS, sighing, sadness, etc.) So they help my daughter practice her expressional reading where she reads without trying to speed read or sounding like a monotone robot! :)

I love Mo Willems. Have many of his books. But this one is basically about one friend NOT recognizing the efforts of another friend to help. The only way it works is if the reader explains the conclusion to the child. A good book about grieving for children helps a child recognize their own feelings, and perhaps, find comfort in the support of a friend. This book barely touches on that. There are so many good books guiding children through grieving...this isn't one of them. Giving it a positive review because you like the characters is misleading.

My son is learning to read and asked specifically for these books the other day, knowing that new, at the local store they are around $10 a piece, I was thrilled to find a few online for much cheaper. I was even MORE thrilled to see that my son lit up when he got them, and he sat down to read- he loved it. I think he loved it in part because he got what he wanted, but also because he is at the stage where he is trying to build his confidence up to try other books. These books, by Mo Wiliams, are excellent for a little person learning to read, they have large enough words where reading and sounding out is easy, and also have nice little lessons. They are fun to read with your little person if you're willing to be animated too!

My Friend is Sad is about Elephant and Piggie. Piggie tries to make Elephant happy. In the end Piggie goes to Elephant and he is happy because his friend is there. One of my favorite parts was when Piggie was in the costumes. The other part I thought was funny was when Piggie met Elephant. It was cute. I would recommend this book to little kids because it doesn't have a lot of words. It has speech bubbles. I also think people who like comic books would like it because it is like a comic book. I promise that if YOU read this book you won’t be sad!

This book is one of many in the series. The stories, characters and illustrations are very sweet and very considerate of the needs of beginning readers. My kindergarten granddaughter loves them and is building a beginning reader library that she loves to read and reread, building her fluency and acquisition of high frequency words. The illustrations are highly supportive of predicting unfamiliar words.

Such a great way to introduce preschool aged student to empathy and some basic social skills like helping a friend feel better. I love that this book takes a very complicated topic and breaks it down into simple language so that even my 4 and 5 year old students can begin to understand about other's feelings.

It might look basic, but so far away from it. It’s simplicity makes it even more enjoyable. We have laughed out loud every time we read it. It also has opens Conversation about there being two sides to every story. HIGJLY RECOMMENDED!!!

This is a wonderful story with a great message for kids. The author has a flare for passing on a social message while using fun images and keeping kids laughing. This was the first of the series that I bought for my granddaughter many years ago and now I am buying it as gifts for great nephews. Love this author.

We have been reading books over our phones to our three-year-old granddaughter during this pandemic time, and we really enjoy ALL the Elephant and Piggy books. They are sweet and hilarious, teaching kindness and creativity to us all.

If you have a chance to purchase More Willems books, DO IT! We have so many! Our children love them! We read them over and over, and I don't even mind! Elephant and Piggie are the best! Yay No Willems! Can you find the pigeon? My Friend Is Sad, is a sweet book. My kids totally recognize piggy in all of her costumes! Is a lovely commentary on the importance of friendship!

Just be warned once you buy your child one of these books, you will eventually have to get the whole set! Not sure what it is about these books, but my daughter is obsessed. I work in education, so I can say that it's very common. Once one of my students reads one book, they cannot wait to read the rest of the series! These are simple easy books with simple graphics. My daughter is a 2nd grader who reads at about a 5-6 level, and she absolutely loves these books. She reads them over and over, and it takes her about 2 minutes to read one full book. Each of these books has a subliminal life lesson as well. They focus on feelings, without making feelings an awkward subject. Highly recommend them, even if your child is an advanced reader...they will still love these. I initally felt like they were a waste of money because they're so easy for my daugter to read, but after I saw how much she genuinely loves them, they were worth every penny. She especially loves reading them to her little cousins and friends. They have a lot of expression (yelling, excited, ALL CAP WORDS, sighing, sadness, etc.) So they help my daughter practice her expressional reading where she reads without trying to speed read or sounding like a monotone robot! :)

I love Mo Willems. Have many of his books. But this one is basically about one friend NOT recognizing the efforts of another friend to help. The only way it works is if the reader explains the conclusion to the child. A good book about grieving for children helps a child recognize their own feelings, and perhaps, find comfort in the support of a friend. This book barely touches on that. There are so many good books guiding children through grieving...this isn't one of them. Giving it a positive review because you like the characters is misleading.

My son is learning to read and asked specifically for these books the other day, knowing that new, at the local store they are around $10 a piece, I was thrilled to find a few online for much cheaper. I was even MORE thrilled to see that my son lit up when he got them, and he sat down to read- he loved it. I think he loved it in part because he got what he wanted, but also because he is at the stage where he is trying to build his confidence up to try other books. These books, by Mo Wiliams, are excellent for a little person learning to read, they have large enough words where reading and sounding out is easy, and also have nice little lessons. They are fun to read with your little person if you're willing to be animated too!

My Friend is Sad is about Elephant and Piggie. Piggie tries to make Elephant happy. In the end Piggie goes to Elephant and he is happy because his friend is there. One of my favorite parts was when Piggie was in the costumes. The other part I thought was funny was when Piggie met Elephant. It was cute. I would recommend this book to little kids because it doesn't have a lot of words. It has speech bubbles. I also think people who like comic books would like it because it is like a comic book. I promise that if YOU read this book you won’t be sad!

This book is one of many in the series. The stories, characters and illustrations are very sweet and very considerate of the needs of beginning readers. My kindergarten granddaughter loves them and is building a beginning reader library that she loves to read and reread, building her fluency and acquisition of high frequency words. The illustrations are highly supportive of predicting unfamiliar words.

Such a great way to introduce preschool aged student to empathy and some basic social skills like helping a friend feel better. I love that this book takes a very complicated topic and breaks it down into simple language so that even my 4 and 5 year old students can begin to understand about other's feelings.

It might look basic, but so far away from it. It’s simplicity makes it even more enjoyable. We have laughed out loud every time we read it. It also has opens Conversation about there being two sides to every story. HIGJLY RECOMMENDED!!!

This is a wonderful story with a great message for kids. The author has a flare for passing on a social message while using fun images and keeping kids laughing. This was the first of the series that I bought for my granddaughter many years ago and now I am buying it as gifts for great nephews. Love this author.

We have been reading books over our phones to our three-year-old granddaughter during this pandemic time, and we really enjoy ALL the Elephant and Piggy books. They are sweet and hilarious, teaching kindness and creativity to us all.

If you have a chance to purchase More Willems books, DO IT! We have so many! Our children love them! We read them over and over, and I don't even mind! Elephant and Piggie are the best! Yay No Willems! Can you find the pigeon? My Friend Is Sad, is a sweet book. My kids totally recognize piggy in all of her costumes! Is a lovely commentary on the importance of friendship!

Hope you like this book since you will be reading it a lot! My 2 year old makes me read it over and over and over. I recommend you buy a few elephant and piggy books so you can hopefully rotate through them. Very positive message, well done as always!

I absolutely adore Mo Willems' books. I guess you could say I adore Mo Willems. Tell him not to worry about me as I am an elderly lady who has no evil intentions. This book is hilarious. Children and old folks love it. It tickles me to death to read this book to little children. I have read it to so many little ones and it never gets old. Please, if you haven't you should buy this book

My 6 year old wants to collect them because they are her favorites to ready. She’s learning how to read and these book are her favorites to read she get excited every day I order her one.

Great read! I love to read aloud with my grandson. We take turns being Piggie or Gerald. Really fun way to work on expressive reading. Funny!

These Elephant and Piggie book are really great. We have 'em all. My Friend is Sad would make you think it's a bit depressive, but it's really one of the sweeter Elephant and Piggie books. Gerald is sad and Piggie tries to cheer him up by putting on all kinds of costumes--Cowboy, Robot, Clown--each one making Gerald all the sadder. In the end it turns out that although Gerald loves Cowboys, Robots and Clowns he was sad because his best friend Piggie was not there to enjoy these things with him (Gerald does not realize that it is Piggie in each of the costumes). Highly recommend.

My husband, my daughter (just turned two years old), and I absolutely LOVE the Elephant and Piggie books. They are our all time favorite set, and we read them every single night before bed time. If you are not familiar with the Elephant and Piggie books, here is what you need to know. 1.) Gerald (the elephant) is a boy and Piggie is a girl. They are both hilarious, and you and your child will grow to love them. 2.) The text is in speech bubbles throughout all the stories. These are easy reads, with few difficult vocabulary words for even the youngest readers. These are only a few words on most pages. I highly recommend previewing one or more books before purchasing. 3.) They are funny. Most books have a clever twist at the end that everyone gets a kick out of. 4.) They look terrific as a set. We own all of the books, and they look great lined up on our bookshelf. The book covers are very nice and sturdy. These are actually the ONLY books we've ever purchased new (all others were gifts or thrift store finds. We are penny pinchers, but these books are WORTH the dollars as they are terrific and look awesome). If you ARE familiar with the books, here's what you need to know about THIS book. 1.) Gerald is sad, and Piggie is trying his best to cheer him up. His attempts to cheer him up are very funny. We add in a few lines to each character that Piggie becomes for extra toddler laughs. 2.) The take-away message of this book is that it is okay to miss your friends sometimes, and that good experiences are best when shared with people you care about. Definitely a great message for little ones. Bottom line - BUY ALL THE ELEPHANT AND PIGGIE BOOKS!

Elephant and Piggie delight my preschool class. This one is another hit. Elephant and Piggie have BIG emotions, and the way they show how the Big Emotions works is so helpful to some of the children in my preschool. They learn to say what their emotions are

The Elephant and Piggie books are entertaining, education and real conversation starters for young readers. You can't go wrong with these.

My daughter love these piggy and gerald books.

My granddaughter owns the complete collection and loved reading them all.

I love all the Mo Willems books. My daughter is just starting to read and these are great learning books to help. She likes to read the part of Piggy and I read Gerald. Great book(s)!

All the Mo Willems books are huge hits in my classroom, and the Elephant and Piggie books are the hottest items in home reading. Even the parents enjoy them and especially love seeing their emergent readers read and reread with animation and excitement. No whining about home reading practice with these books! As a teacher, I'm really excited about this series and have already preordered the two Elephant and Piggie books that are going to be released in a few months. Great high frequency word practice, too!

Great book series. Clever, fun, cute, and a great way to teach your kids while reading together.

My granddaughter asked for these books for Christmas. She loves them!

Must have books

My grandson loves these books.

The whole Elephant and Piggie collection is awesome.

Not sure what the hype is about on this book. I was disappointed.

We love the Elephant and piggy books and this one is an excellent addition to our collection. It was exactly as advertised and in perfect condition. No complaints here : )

First time with this series. Not impressed.

My son's first books to read all the way through; Piggie & Gerald characters appeal perfectly to the young reader's sense of humor. Mo Willems is a genius children's book author; his quality of content and placement of words, made my child at the young age of three a very entertaining storyteller. A different style completely, but I say he would rank up there with Dr. Seuss as far as authors go.

a favorite series with my two grandsons.

My grandson birthday gift

My nieces and nephews all love Elephant and Piggie. I have been buying the books for them over time and have almost all of them. So, this past Christmas, they bought me the Elephant and Piggie stuffed animals. I use them to act out the books like it's drawn. It makes the books even more fun, but beware bedtime reading now takes much longer. :)

Grandson loves Mo Williams, Cute book, great read for beginners.

A gift for my granddaughter who loved it

Donated to a local school for the library. The kids enjoy it.

One of my daughter's favorites!

I am not a parent or a child, but I still love this book! I stumbled across it in a bookstore, and after reading it, immediately ordered a copy on Amazon for my best friend. It is very simple with adorable sketches, yet it really conveys the message that the best things in life aren't as special if you can't share them with your dearest friend.

Elephant and Piggie are hilarious! Always a winner in our house. My 7 year old collects these and reads the whole stack of them every night. Elephant and Piggie are really great characters who are certain to be classics. Always lots of giggles with these books.

My class love Mo Willem. This book was a great addition to our library.

Love these books for my kindergarten child. Great books to keep in children’s library.

This is my girls favorite book series. They hit major moral life issues in a fun easy way to understand for little kids. They are a quick read all done in speech between the two main animals. They are fun engaging books.

Kids loved it.

Wonderful series!

Great Book

I bought this book or my Grandson, who is in Kindergarten. He really enjoys these book!

love all the Elephant & Piggie books

Love it!

These books are amazing!

My niece loves these books!!

My friend had been sad over the course of a few months. I looked on Amazon and found this great book. My friend is 44 but she found this book to be "very smart and teaches the important things in life". It was an excellent way to cheer her up. The item was in great condition and shipped quickly. Thanks!

Kids absolutely love this - and all the Mo Willems books. Can't stop reading it!

My son loves these books

Great ending to this one.

I gave this book with 2 other Mo Willems books to my granddaughter on her 5th birthday. We both loved it. We loved all of his books.

My 4 year old great-granddaughter loves Gerald and Piggie. She has her mommy read the stories often and is able to memorize most of the words. A great book by Mo Willems.

Cute books that my granddaughter can read all by herself!

Well written.

We love Mo Williams books!

I bought these after listening to an interview with the author with Terry Gross on NPR. They are gifts so I hope to know something by Christmas.

1st grade Son's favorite book! The whole Elephant and Piggie collection is a wonderful set of books for children.

Fun reading. My grandkids love it.

Great book for grandkids that are 3 and 4, they read it back to me.

Elephant & Piggie say no more

Love Mo Willems and this series in particular!

Kids love it!

The book cover was dirty and had an old sticker on it with dirt on that. This was supposed to be a new book. Disappointed

My daughter LOVES Elephant & Piggie books and this is no exception!

I work with children who have depression, so bought this book as a non-threatening tool to help talk about how they communicate about their feelings.

My 4 yr old grandson received this book...he loves to read, so I hope he liked it! I loved sending it to him, and the author gets awesome reviews.

It was a great gift.

Great book - very enjoyable read

My granddaughter loved this and all of the other Elephant and Piggie books I purchased for her. Great stories with good messages to boot.

A good addition to our elephant and piggie books. As usual, brings out the giggles and my 5 yr old loves to read along.

These are the best books! My 1st grader loves!

Another awesome Elephant and Piggie story! My son loves these books. He chooses a character to read, and the color-coded speech balloons help him see who's speaking.

Love it

Awesome series

I love this series of books. They teach nice lessons and really help kids learn to read

My 4 year old son loves loves these books!

My child loves to read these books... to me!

Nice

Gerald and Piggie should be the relationship goals for every one.

My 6 year old loves Elephant and Piggie books. This is no exception.

My 6 yr old loves these books!

My grandson loves these books very educational for him and a learning guide into life with an explanation he can understand

Excellent book. Will purchase for gifts.

My daughter loves these books!

Love this series.

I have read this book to scores of children from ages 3 to 7 and they all love it. But then, anything with Piggie and Gerald is beloved by children.

Got this book for my five year old and he was so happy he had no words, lol. He also won't stop reading it. Plus, plus!!!

grandkids loved it.

Kids love it.

A very good book about feelings and empathy. Thanks

My kids love these books!

My daughter loves books and this one is no exception. She loved pointing out the emotions of the elephant and talking about his friend's antics to make him happy.

Both me and my students enjoyed this book! They asked to have it read over and over again! It's a great purchase!

good book.

My daughter loves these books and if you read them it's easy to see why. Very cute and nicely written/illustrated.

My 5 year old LOVES Piggie and Gerald. We haven't found a book we didn't like.

Elephant and Piggie books are our favorite.

My children love these books!

Highly recommended children's book series

I have an above average reader so these books did not impress either one of us. The school recommended them.

GREAT BOOK!

We love Mo Willems' books. This one is particularly fun. The illustrations are very fun and engaging and the humor has an edge that any parent would appreciate.

My kinder babies love this series.

Good feeling books for my kindergarten class. Great price here!!

Love it!!

These books are the best!

My two boys (5 &9) will read anything by Mo Willems but this was the first one we ever read. They (and I) absolutely love it! Make sure you do individual voices for each character. You and you child will be laughing out loud!

Awesome books!

Dude!!!! this is such a good book. I love Mo Willems books i didn't think you could top the pigeon but this comes close. I highly recommend it!!!! The elephant needs glasses too funny!!!

Amazing books

easy first reader

The book came quickly and how it was described.

Great illustrations

I love this book. My students loved it. Over the summer, my copy of this book that my school system gave me grew legs and walked out of my storage closet. I was peeved that I had to purchase it again but it was worth it.

My five year old has a great since of humor and enjoy reading this book. I even enjoy the humor!

We *LOVE* Elephant & Piggie books in our family! So simple but convey so much emotion that kids of all ages can identify with. If you love to laugh, these books are for you. We've read every one of them, and not one is a disappointment! You just really can't go wrong with any one of these totally cute, funny books. The bonus? These books turned around a situation that was developing into a big negative and struggle. In kindergarten, my son picked up reading with ease. By the end he was freakishly excellent at reading and testing four grades ahead of his own. Enter next in line, sister. In kindergarten, she is a regular kid and reading comes to her at the usual speed. This would be fine if she hadn't already been reading with brother super-reader, setting her expectations unreasonably high for herself. My kids and I have been reading before bed every night since they were born, and since becoming old enough, the three of us together, every night. My daughter was keenly aware of her brother's reading development as he had taken over the duties from me. As my daughter began to read, the requirement from school was for her to read at home. Her experience was quickly becoming a very negative one as she would struggle with every word, and her brother would become impatient and want to help, further frustrating her... and on it went every night. She was exhausted and frustrated by the end of 10min. I feared she would end up like me - never reading a book unless assigned in school, until her brother was born, because I read so slow and couldn't keep up with my own attn. span. I also recognized that the books for her reading level contained many words that were above her abilities, not real words (further confusing things) and frankly, above the reading level of the target audience. I remember thinking, "... if I could just find a book that had almost only words she had already learned in school..." Enter Elephant & Piggie to our rescue! The simplicity of the words, plus their repetition meant that she could read a whole book *herself*, just like her brother, and not feel dumb, or exhausted and frustrated by the end. Whew! THAT was a close one. I'm convinced that if we didn't find the Elephant & Piggie books, to this day it would be like pulling teeth to get my daughter to read. Today she is in 4th grade and reading at her grade level and improving every day! I feel like I owe so much to Elephant & Piggie! AND - Elephant & Piggie are just plain FUNNY and sweet! THANK YOU Mo Willems, for saving us and the magic of reading together as a family! I am forever in your debt.

Easy Readers are kinda a pain to deal with. You want to hold your kid's attention naturally (they won't want to read a boring book, and who can blame them?) while teaching them something, and you want them to want to read the book again. Reading a book more than once increases their understanding. (Plus, you probably don't have enough cash to buy enough books for your kid to read them each one time only.) This is a tough sell. Kids don't want to read "books" that are nothing but thinly done excuses for teaching "-at" words, or practicing their first Dolch list. They want to read literature! Not baby books! And you're holding them back! (And then they open up literature and get frustrated. You just can't win.) Well, forget all that. Elephant and Piggie is your solution. These books are definitely easy. They have few words, and a lot of repetition of the words they have. (They're told in (very funny) dialog, and for humor one character often repeats another's sentence verbatim. "But Gerald, you love cowboys." "I do. I love cowboys".) But they're also FUNNY. I'm a grown-up, I see these jokes telegraphed a mile away, and I still crack up reading them. And the illustrations! Just enough to help the cautious reader... but not so detailed that the reader can depend entirely on them to tell the story. No, you have to read the words. These books are wildly funny, and they're educational. Your kid will read them to tatters. What more can you ask? My favorite part of this book has to be Elephant's utter desolation after the robot incident. Or maybe Piggie's blatant breaking of the fourth wall when she realizes what a doofus her best friend is. Gerald is bemoaning the fact that Piggie was not there to see "A FUNNY FUNNY CLOWN!" (she was, in fact, the clown trying to cheer Gerald up), and the look Piggie gives the reader is utterly priceless. (Maybe I just love how sweet it is that what is making Gerald sad is the fact that his best friend was not there to see these awesome things. It's like The Gift of the Magi, but with more cardboard box robots!)

This is a great book. I'm not sure what it is that makes it such that my son is so attracted to it, but reading time is taking twice as long these days because he wants to read both of the books that he has from this series. The writing is on the wall: I'm going to have to buy several more of these. Verdict: strongly recommended. Caveat Emptor! You will not only be able to buy one of these.

My children, especially my 6 year old daughter, LOVES the An Elephant and Piggie books. Her school library has a seemingly endless supply of these books and she borrows them constantly. Every week on Library day she brings home two new ones...and we read each book every single night for the entire week! I have to admit, that both my husband and I love these stories too. In this story, poor Gerald has the blues. Piggie is determined to cheer up her dear friend, and tries to do so by masquerading as a series of Gerald's favorite characters, including a cowboy, clown, and robot. Unfortunately, nothing works. Nothing, that is, until Piggie appears as herself. This is a sweet, funny--though not quite as funny as some we've read--engaging, Elephant and Piggie story. As usual it's well written and nicely illustrated. The stories are interesting and funny, using simple, easy to read words. My daughter, who is a first grader can easily read all the Elephant and Piggie books. IMO, these books are appropriate, as a reading tool, for beginning readers...Kindergarteners and Pre-K students.

My children, especially my 6 year old daughter, LOVES the An Elephant and Piggie books. Her school library has a seemingly endless supply of these books and she borrows them constantly. Every week on Library day she brings home two new ones...and we read each book every single night for the entire week! I have to admit, that both my husband and I love these stories too. In this story, poor Gerald has the blues. Piggie is determined to cheer up her dear friend, and tries to do so by masquerading as a series of Gerald's favorite characters, including a cowboy, clown, and robot. Unfortunately, nothing works. Nothing, that is, until Piggie appears as herself. This is a sweet, funny--though not quite as funny as some we've read--engaging, Elephant and Piggie story. As usual it's well written and nicely illustrated. The stories are interesting and funny, using simple, easy to read words. My daughter, who is a first grader can easily read all the Elephant and Piggie books. IMO, these books are appropriate, as a reading tool, for beginning readers...Kindergarteners and Pre-K students.

My children, especially my 6 year old daughter, LOVES the An Elephant and Piggie books. Her school library has a seemingly endless supply of these books and she borrows them constantly. Every week on Library day she brings home two new ones...and we read each book every single night for the entire week! I have to admit, that both my husband and I love these stories too. In this story, poor Gerald has the blues. Piggie is determined to cheer up her dear friend, and tries to do so by masquerading as a series of Gerald's favorite characters, including a cowboy, clown, and robot. Unfortunately, nothing works. Nothing, that is, until Piggie appears as herself. This is a sweet, funny--though not quite as funny as some we've read--engaging, Elephant and Piggie story. As usual it's well written and nicely illustrated. The stories are interesting and funny, using simple, easy to read words. My daughter, who is a first grader can easily read all the Elephant and Piggie books. IMO, these books are appropriate, as a reading tool, for beginning readers...Kindergarteners and Pre-K students.

My children, especially my 6 year old daughter, LOVES the An Elephant and Piggie books. Her school library has a seemingly endless supply of these books and she borrows them constantly. Every week on Library day she brings home two new ones...and we read each book every single night for the entire week! I have to admit, that both my husband and I love these stories too. In this story, poor Gerald has the blues. Piggie is determined to cheer up her dear friend, and tries to do so by masquerading as a series of Gerald's favorite characters, including a cowboy, clown, and robot. Unfortunately, nothing works. Nothing, that is, until Piggie appears as herself. This is a sweet, funny--though not quite as funny as some we've read--engaging, Elephant and Piggie story. As usual it's well written and nicely illustrated. The stories are interesting and funny, using simple, easy to read words. My daughter, who is a first grader can easily read all the Elephant and Piggie books. IMO, these books are appropriate, as a reading tool, for beginning readers...Kindergarteners and Pre-K students.

Mo Willems is a master illustrator and storyteller. He's also somewhat of an illusionist. I'll explain. Out of the simplest elements: Just two characters, a minimal plot, a few words per page, and uncluttered illustrations that must average over 80% "white space" (i.e., the un-illustrated parts of the page), Willems constructs amazingly rich scenes that surprise us with their enormous humor, subtle understanding, and underlying complexity. Here, Gerard the elephant tells his pal Piggie that he feels sad. Elephant's labeling of this emotion begins with a frown, and then an apparently surprised recognition that he feels blue. Piggie looks out at the reader with concern, stating, "My friend is sad." Later, we see that Elephant seems frightened of his feelings. Piggie declares confidently, "I will make him happy." These six pages of relative gravity set the scene for the entertaining frivolity that follows. Piggie pulls out all the stops to cheer up his friend: He wear a 10 (at least!) gallon hat, "Yeehawing" about on a pretend horse,, he juggles 5 balls in the air, and wears a faux high tech costume that Gerard figures out is a robot. Piggie is thoughtful, Gerard loves cowboys, clowns, and robots, and he cheers up temporarily. However, each time, his delighted surprise doesn't last, and he is sad again. Piggie, for all his careful planning and attention to detail feels like he has failed his friend. We soon learn, however, that Piggie's disguises were perhaps a little TOO successful...! Willems, you see, performs a neat little trick here, midway through the book; a clever twist for which we're totally unprepared. Elephant may have been sad, but apparently he's even sadder that Piggy missed all the things which cheered him up....the cowboy, the clown, and the robot! There's more, of course: Willems relishes the opportunity to capture all of Elephant's outrageous, wrenching melodrama. As Gerard recounts how happy he was seeing these characters, he becomes more and more distraught, as he recalls that Piggie was not there with him. When Gerard excitedly shouts, "THERE WAS MORE!" he's so loud that Piggy is thrown several feet away. Toddlers and others (especially parents and adult caregivers) will recognize and appreciate these extreme of emotion. Within this simple story, Willems gives us all a chance to see the humor of Elephant's histrionics. Moreover, the plot twist is itself hilarious, because we're in on the secret that Piggie--of course--WAS there. At the conclusion, the elephant hugs Piggie, happily declaring, "My friend is here now," and, after quietly and happily sitting near him, blushingly admits, "I need my friends." Piggy looks out at us, and whispers a little zinger, "You need new glasses." Gerard looks confused--but not unhappy. BY equal measure droll and unsparingly funny, but full of action, emotion, and surprise, "My Friend is Sad" is another gem in Mo Willems' humor and insight in simple situations. It's a great companion to "Today I Will Fly" (also released in March 2007); I recommend both books very highly.

This wasn't quite the book I was expecting or hoping for. I had hoped the book would address the issue of why Gerald was sad and how he ultimately ends up feeling better. Instead it almost entirely focuses on the second part and none of the first and so I can't help but feel this is a bit of a cop out. Even the way Piggie helps Gerald feel better seemed kind of circumspect to me. I know this series's charm is that it's not completely realistic, but dressing up in costumes to cheer someone up just seems lacking in message. I do love the part in the end when Gerald says that he feels better because Piggie cares about how he feels and is there for him and I will admit that while I didn't care for how the "cheer him up" part of the book worked it WAS pretty darn funny. So while its not the best book for talking about feelings it is a really entertaining read. Just don't use it as a book for when you want to have a serious talk with a child.

This book knocked my socks off! Of course, it's a little hard to find one's socks while rolling on the floor laughing... There are few books for early readers that truly stand the test of time, but My Friend Is Sad should be around for years to come. The things that make it work would, ironically, fall flat in a chapter book for fifth graders--but Mo Willems understands something crucial about little kids, and that is that their emotions and interactions feel vast and dramatic to them. This story reminded me of an old-fashioned melodrama, characterized by over-the-top facial expressions and physical humor. I mean, Gerald the elephant could do a GREAT death scene if he had to. In counterpoint to the drama that is Gerald, we have his friend Piggie's drier delivery as Piggie earnestly, even frantically, attempts to cheer up the sad elephant. (You may not be able to tell from the text that Piggie is a girl, by the way.) I love Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad with all my heart, but here is a duo with an equally charming, though very different, dynamic. Your child will like this book--and you will, too!

Mo Willems has worked his magic yet again. In two new books, "Today I will Fly" And "My Friend is Sad" he introduces two new characters to his cast--Piggie, an upbeat and optomistic pig and her best friend, Gerald a more melancholy, 'realistic' elephant who wears glasses. Piggie enters the pages of the book to find, Gerald, her best friend in a very glum mood--he's so wrapped up in it that he does not even notice her. She then goes about trying ways to cheer him up--dressing up as a clown and a cowboy for example. Each new attempt, inspite of Gerald loving clowns and cowboys, makes the elephant even more miserable. The illustrations are classic Willems, super expressive but very simple at the same time. Fantastic! Its a sweet book about friendship and is great for a younger audience. Its on a similar level as "Green Eggs and Ham" and clearly the publisher realised this as it is very similar in shape, size and general physical design to the smaller Dr. Seuss books.

We own several of Mo Willem's books and enjoy them all very much. Since there are already many positive reviews on the book, what is significant to me is that my 4-year daughter is learning to read 3-4 letter words and she really took to this book the first time I read it to her. Even though there are some longer and harder words to sound out, she attempted to read it several times on her own through sounding out the letters and word and image recognition. And she also loved imitating how the two characters would sound because the expressions on their faces and the use of capitalization in the balloons helped her identify with the text. I am constantly searching for easy-to-read books to encourage her to practice reading and this book definitely captivated her.

Willems, M. (2007). My friend is sad. New York, NY: Disney-Hyperion. Genre: Children's Early Reader Gerald is sad. Piggie dresses up as fun characters to cheer him up...will it be enough to make Gerald happy? My Friend is Sad by Mo Willems is a great example of a children's book that could be used to assist an adult in discussing feelings of sadness with a child. The book's characters (Gerald, a sensitive elephant and Piggie, a dramatic pig) accurately capture the thoughts and feelings of young children. This accurate perspective presents children with an opportunity to more easily express their own thoughts and feelings about sadness (and other emotions). Additionally, this story shares how it feels when others around us are sad. The emphasized lines in the illustrations and simple, easy-to-read text makes this a go-to book for emerging readers.

My three year old son loves this series. This one is a lot of fun to read to him. We learn about emotions, pretend play, and interpersonal relationships. And there's robots, cowboys, and juggling clowns. The artwork is expressive and uncomplicated. The dialogue allows for imaginative performance by the reader-- by changing the nuances, you can make it a different experience each time. Which is not to say you have to be a great actor. These books are different from the pigeon books (also by Mo Willems), in that having two characters allows room for plot and story development on a greater scale. The pigeon books (such as _Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus_) are much more appropriate for a younger child. The only reason I did not give this particular book a full five stars is that the dialogue in the end of the story is a little flat compared to the excellence of his other books. This book is still a must have.

Just order all his books. Take advantage of EVERY multiple buying deal. Currently I am missing only two of the books I know he has published. :) If I lived in the Brooklyn area I would march in and have him sign EVERY ONE of them. Even the books I didn't initially like (Edwina, Leonardo, Pigeon finds a hot dog) I have come to love. There is some brainwashing feature --- lol --- it doesn't hurt that he hides the pigeons in the books --- we like looking for him. I'm telling you he GETS kids. From the inside cover to the very back --- the books are incredibly simple --- well thought out. Thank you Mo.

Unlike a lot of books of this level, this one is not tedious for the adults to read. The last page makes me chuckle. My son has HFA, and this book is especially great as a jumping off point for talking about emotions. It's counterintuitive that Piggie does something cool, but then Gerald is still sad, so he has to really think about emotions in a more complex way and ponder what else might be going on the make Gerald sad.

Each time we read one of these books it becomes our FAVORITE, I really liked how this book is about friendship and enjoying things with your friend! Like I said in other reviews: These books are fun and funny to read. My 5 year old can read them, and my 7 year old still enjoys reading it with us. It has also helped my 7 year old with using the right inflexion for admiration !!! and Question??? She loves to read to her sister REALLY loud to make enphasis on the story. You really need to try these books.

I've taught preschool for 5 years, and getting this book for my classroom was one of the best decisions ever! My students were always laughing when we read it, requesting it frequently for our story time book. It's fun to read with a lot of energy and animation, brings the book alive for the kids and they really learn to love the characters. Plus, the illustrations are just hysterical! When elephant is sad, me and my co-teachers couldn't help but laugh out loud at the expressions Mo Willems illustrated. I'm buying a copy for myself so I can frame a few pages to hang in my house and give me a smile =)

what I love the most about these books is how Mo Willems adds little phrases here and there that speak for what we (the adults) are thinking while reading these books. This story is very cute, a friend helping another friend get rid of the blues, only to find out that friend's short-sightedness is what is promoting the sadness.

This is a funny book about friendship with Piggie and Gerald. Gerald is sad, so Piggie goes all out to cheer Gerald up. He dresses up as a cowboy, a clown and a robot. Now Gerald is unhappy because Piggie can't see these characters and share the fun with him. It's got an upbeat message about sharing that is positive told in a humorous way.

I'm not as eloquent as previous reviewers, but this book is the bomb. We got this book as a fluke; in a class book exchange. It was so good that as a mom of 2 little ones, I'm taking the time to actually write a review (RARE for me!). It has the silliness that 4- & 5-year olds love with an obvious observation at the end of it (a technique that isn't often used in children's books for this young age) that will make YOU & your child laugh. I wish I knew which parent I should thank for this gift!

My son loves Elephant and Piggie, and so do I! My son is six years old, and learning to read. I search high and low for early readers that are at a beginner's level AND entertaining, yet usually end up very disappointed. Most early readers have little plot and are dull to even my six-year-old. With Elephant and Piggie, the humor is at a level of sophistication that both he and I can enjoy. The illustrations, though simple, are so expressive! My son can read these books independently, but our favorite method is to each take a role of one of the characters and take turns reading the book together. Did I read that Mo Willems worked on Sesame Street at one time? That would explain the cleverness of his books, and the ability to appeal to both adults and children alike. We have loved all of his books that we have read, especially the Pigeon books and Knuffle Bunny, and of course, Elephant and Piggie! We are eagerly awaiting the release of his next books!

Quite adorable and fun to read

Great book for a beginner reader to read on their own and the content is also teaches.

My daughter loves the elephant and piggie books.

Best books for early readers.

Great book

My son loves Mo Willems books; very funny and inviting for the beginning reader!

My first grader just loved this series! This is my favorite book so far, it is wonderful! This inspired us to buy all the books in the series.

I am 24 and my best friend moved away because her husband is in the military. Shes been away for 2 years and has had a rough time adjusting without her friends.....i read this book wandering around at a bookstore with my son and i fell in love with it. Im shipping it off to Kansas as my best friends Christmas gift. I know she will love it!

Very cute book! Mo Willems is a great kids author and his Pigeon books are a must read, as well!! Your kids will love them all!