I Really Like Slop! (An Elephant and Piggie Book) (An Elephant and Piggie Book, 24)

Product Description Gerald is careful. Piggie is not. Piggie cannot help smiling. Gerald can. Gerald worries so that Piggie does not have to. Gerald and Piggie are best friends. In I Really Like Slop!, Piggie invites Gerald to try her favorite food . . . slop. But Gerald is not so sure he’s going to like it. At all. From School Library Journal PreS-Gr 2—Elephant and Piggie are back! This time Piggie has created…slop. When Gerald gets a whiff of the pea-green concoction and sees flies buzzing around the bowl, he asks Piggie if it is supposed to smell that way. With the exaggerative flair Willems is known for, as Piggie sniffs, her hat pops off, eyes bulge, and her head turns from turquoise to orange before she answers "Yessssss!" Piggie is eager for her best friend to try the recipe, but Gerald emphatically refuses. Seeing that he has upset his friend, Gerald changes his mind. Willems successfully executes the tension in the tasting scene by using two pages to zoom in on Gerald's face as a dot of slop touches his tongue. Gerald turns four shades of bright colors before transforming into a yellow and purple polka-dotted elephant. As he begins to return to his normal gray self, Piggie asks if he liked it. Although Gerald confesses that he does not, he shares that he is glad he tried it, because that is what friends do for each other. Variance in text size and melodramatic facial expressions will help readers understand how the two pals feel throughout the story. Elephant and Piggie fans will enjoy the new twist of bright colors used in contrast against the signature gray and pink hues. VERDICT Through a story line and illustrations that produce rollicking laughter, Elephant and Piggie once again share with young readers what it means to be a friend.—Beth Parmer, New Albany Elementary Library, OH Review PRAISE FOR THE ELEPHANT PIGGIE SERIES * “Accessible, appealing, and full of authetic emotions about what makes friendships tick, these titles will put a contemporary shine on easy reader collections.”― Booklist (starred review) PRAISE FOR THE ELEPHANT PIGGIE SERIES * “These books will easily take their place alongside Seuss and Eastman as classics in the beginning-reader genre.”― The Bulletin (starred review) PRAISE FOR THE ELEPHANT PIGGIE SERIES * “These masterful mini-dramas will delight and amuse easy-reader and picture-book audiences, alike.”― School Library Journal (starred review) About the Author Mo Willems (www.pigeonpresents.com), a number one New York Times best-selling author and illustrator, has been awarded a Caldecott Honor on three occasions (for Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale, and Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity). Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! was also an inaugural inductee into the Indies Choice Picture Book Hall of Fame. The celebrated Elephant & Piggie early-reader series has been awarded the Theodor Seuss Geisel Medal on two occasions (for There Is a Bird on Your Head! and Are You Ready to Play Outside?) as well as garnering four Honors (for We Are in a Book!, I Broke My Trunk!, Let’ s Go for a Drive! and A Big Guy Took My Ball!). (See above)