Patience is not a virtue that most children desire. But Gerald and Piggie show that patience does pay off--at least when it comes to surprises.
With a minimum of fanfare and a healthy helping of humor, Mo Willems proves again why he's a genius when it comes to beginning readers. Piggie cartwheels onto the page (indicated by dotted lines). "Gerald!" he cries. "I have a surprise for you!" The elephant replies, "Yay! What is it?" But if Piggie tells, that would ruin everything. "The surprise is a surprise," smart Piggie says. Piggie's words appear in pink balloons; Gerald's appear in gray. Readers easily see that the speech bubbles match the characters. Gerald poses yes-or-no questions to try to figure out the surprise. When he asks, "Can we share it?" Piggie turns upside-down with excitement: "Yes!" Growing ever more impatient, Gerald groans so loudly, he knocks over poor Piggie. "I am done waiting!" Gerald says. "I do not think your surprise is worth all this waiting!" Piggie disagrees. Gerald exits off the left-hand page, then returns. With an upturned brow or downturned mouth, Mo Willems's gifted pen tells children all they need to know about the friends' moods. They wait. "It is getting dark!" observes Gerald. "Soon we will not be able to see each other!"
For the surprise, Willems introduces a medium he has not used before in this series, and its effect will send chills of awe down readers' spines. A beautiful meditation on trust and friendship's shared moments. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness