This story isn't about the journey or the destination... it's about giddy anticipation.
Let's Go for a Drive!--the latest in Mo Willems's cartoonishly illustrated, Geisel Award–winning Elephant & Piggie series for beginning readers--exuberantly chronicles the slapstick antics of Gerald the elephant and his dear friend Piggie. Here they pack what they need for a nice long drive, frequently dancing and shouting "Drive! Drive! Drivey-drive-drive!" for the sheer joy of it. As in Willems's other deceptively simple, dialogue-driven books, Gerald speaks in gray cartoon bubbles, and Piggie's are piggy-pink. The playful refrains (reminiscent of An Edward Lear Alphabet) are tailor-made for read-aloud hams, erupting with every new item packed, from map ("Map! Map! Mappy-map-map!") to sunglasses ("Sunny-sunglasses!"), umbrellas and suitcases.
In the end, they're missing just one crucial thing (hint: as Piggie points out, "A pig with a car would be silly"). --Karin Snelson, freelance writer and children's book editor