Pigs Make Me Sneeze By Mo Willems

1.  Bibliography
Willems, Mo.  2009.  Pigs Make Me Sneeze.  New York:  Hyperion Books For Children.  ISBN 9781423114116.

2.  Plot Summary
The pig and elephants are best friends who are trying to figure what they are going to do for the day.  The problem is that the elephant cannot stop sneezing after his friend comes to see him.  The elephant draws the conclusion from his sneezing that he is allergic to his best friend.  He goes to the doctor and is diagnosed with having a cold.  The author shares the hilarity of the characters not understanding what is wrong and the process of going to the doctor to figure out what is wrong.  It would be horrible if he could not be around his best friend ever again.

3.  Critical Analysis
The authors writing is very simple.  The text is written in balloon boxes, that are conversations between the characters.  There is no narrator in the story.  The conversations is very basic and easy to understand.  Each page only has a few sentences between the characters in the story to read.  The importance of the story is the conversation between the characters and their interactions.  The author does not want the reader to focus on anything but the interactions of the characters. 

The illustrations in the book are of the three characters in the story.  These is no background for the characters.  The pages are a white background with only the characters and their conversation bubbles for the reader to look at.  The backdrop setting is of no importance to the story.  The characters are simple drawings filled with expressions on their faces of what emotions they are conveying in their conversations has the story progresses.  The pages are very basic and easy for a child to follow the story.

This is a great book to share with young children.  It is a fast paced story that includes the action of sneezing that the children can do as the story is read to them.  It focuses on the importance of friendship and what happens when a person is sick.

4.  Review Excerpts
BOOKLIST has a starred review:  "Accessible, appealing, and full of authentic emotions about what makes friendship tick, these titles will put a contemporary shine on easy reader collections."
THE BULLETIN a starred review:  "These books will easily take their place alongside Seus and Eastman as classics in the beginning-reader genre."

5.  Connections
A great book to read to cold season or friendship story times.
Read with other books by Mo Willems with children that are learning how to read.
Set up a display to share all the adventures of Elephant and Pig by Mo Williams. 
Other books about having a cold:
Cuyler, Margery.  AH-CHOO.  ISBN 0439266181
Rylant, Cynthia.  MR. PUTTER AND TABBY CATCH THE COLD.  ISBN 0152047603.