Roomful of giggles

Those of you who know me, know I love Mo Willems. I originally thought the Elephant and Piggie series were his best work ever. I can't even pick a favorite book. I love them all (okay, I Love my new Toy is my #1 followed by Elephant and Piggie Play Outside.) My high school aides act like they're 6 years old when we get his books in the library. They sit next to me while I catalog, reading Mo Willems and giggling. I laugh along with them. . . his books are irresistible.

So, I thought Elephant and Piggie could not be replaced in my affections, and then I met the pigeon. Seriously, you have to read these books. If you don't have small children, rent one. . . I read Pigeon wants a Puppy today to the second grade. It was one of those moments where you wish you could capture the laughter and expressions - priceless. They begged for one more story, so we read Pigeon wants to stay up Late. And then because we couldn't stop ourselves, we read Elephant and Piggie Play Outside . One little boy almost fell out of his chair he was laughing so hard. Please don't make us pick our favorite, we only stopped reading because our time was up. . .

Needless to say, there is not a single Mo Willems book left in my library. . .

I LOVE this book. . .

We got two boxes of books in the library this week. In the words of my TA "it was like Christmas". New books seem to draw people in - one of my greatest joys is to watch students and teachers paw through the stacks of books. I love to eavesdrop on their conversations and try to gauge whether or not this order was a success. Due to today's response, it was. . . most of the new books were checked out as soon as they were catalogued and covered. The only book that was missing from the order was. . . you guessed it, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw. I had one boy that was so disappointed, I finally had to pull out my order form to convince him it was back ordered (again) and that I really had ordered it in the first place.



The greatest gem of the box was a book by Mo Willems, my favorite ( I know I use that word A LOT) new children's author. He is not a new author, but I just discovered the joy of reading his books out loud. One of his books Knuffle Bunny Too: a case of mistaken identity is up for the Colorado Children's Book Award. I have been reading through the list in the library and our elementary students will vote next week on their favorite. Because this book was such a hit, I decided to order some more of his books and we got I Love my New Toy! It is an Elephant and Piggie book and if I try to describe it, I will begin to gush. . . Find a copy, buy a copy, reserve a copy at your local library. You must read this book. You will not regret it. I was reading this book to myself and giggling out loud. I don't typically giggle. I showed this book to students, parents and teachers (yes, I was gushing) and everyone I showed it to laughed out loud. My friend, Leslie, stopped by the library and I made her read it (embarrassing, I know). She immediately took it and read it to the third grade class to see if they would think it was as funny as we did. . . They reported back, it was a hit. Trust me, you need this book.