Waiting Is Not Easy! by Mo Willems - Hardcover

Uma forma bem divertida de trabalhar a ansiedade nas crianças!

It certainly is not easy to wait! My girls and I have been waiting for this book since we pre-ordered it in April! For those of you who might be unfamiliar with this series, Elephant and Piggie is a series of easy readers featuring a neurotic elephant and his friend Piggie, who is a nice foil for Gerald. The books are very silly; there is usually a misunderstanding, and quite a bit of comic relief. The text is simple, and the character speak via voice bubbles, using simple language like, "I have a surprise for you!" "Yay! What is it?" "The surprise is a surprise!" "Oh." The illustrations enhance the simple text. Elephant and Piggie are put up against a white background. This allows emphasis to be placed on facial expressions and body language. This is a wonderful tool for helping children understand how a character is feeling. Waiting Is Not Easy is a wonderful entry in the franchise. The snippet of text I shared is from the beginning of the book. Piggie has a surprise for Gerald, and he is very excited. The only problem is that Gerald literally can't deal with waiting, and he gets more and more anxious about the surprise. He groans audibly, and his groan voice bubble even knocks Piggie over. She remains patient with him, and the payoff when the surprise is revealed proves to be worth the wait. My three girls (7,5,5) loved this story. They giggled at Gerald's impatience, and they enjoyed the surprise. The Elephant and Piggie books don't always have a lesson at the end, so I appreciated that this story conveyed the message that good things come to those who wait. I would absolutely recommend Waiting Is Not Easy to preschoolers through children in the early years of elementary school. The voice bubble format makes this an ideal story to act out with an emerging reader. I know that we will continue to enjoy this story, just like the rest of the Elephant and Piggie stories.

In assoluto il mio libro del cuore… la sorpresa di cui si parla è di una tenerezza struggente!!

This is a really nice children's book. The plot is simple. Pig has a surprise for elephant. A really big, really good surprise that they can share. Only problems is that elephant has to wait for it. Which is hard to do. Without giving more away, the book relies on the narration and imagery to carry the story, which they do quite well. It passed the ultimate test by making at least two young kids laugh when I read it to them. I would probably peg this for ages 3-6, maybe up to age 8. It's a cute story, the kids find it funny, and it preaches about something that most kids have a hard time with: waiting. So even though this isn't an all-time classic, and probably warrants 4.5 stars rather than a full five, I'm going to be generous and go with the full five. Anything that helps pass on the message to children of being patient, in a fun way, is a good thing in my view.

絵本というよりは漫画。このシリーズは子供に本当ウケがいいです。3歳から読み始めてますが、何回も読んでるうちにセリフ覚えます。英語を習い始めたくらいのお子さんにもおすすめです。