Book Review: Today I Will Fly! by Mo Willem

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Funny pictures and simple dialog tell a great story

Cons: None at all.  I mean it!

The Bottom Line: 

Elephant, Piggie

Make great friends for young readers

Laugh as Piggie flies

When Pigs Fly

Earlier this year, I finally read my first Mo Willems book.  It was research to see if I thought his books would be good for my niece.  (It's nice to have her as an excuse.)  I loved it.  So when I stumbled across some more for her, I grabbed them as well.

Today I Will Fly! is a book in his Elephant & Piggie series.  I'm not too familiar with them, but from the back of the book it looks like the series stars Gerald (the elephant) and Piggie, who happen to be best friends.

This book opens with Piggie making a declaration.  "Today I will fly!" she states.  Gerald tries to be the voice of reason, but Piggie won't listen.  She hops around trying to take off.  Then she gets a dog to chase her, resulting in a giant leap, but not flight.  Finally, she does.  Or did she just have help?

This book is told entirely through dialog and pictures.  There's no narration or description or anything.  And the picture are just the characters, who are simple drawings.  There's no background at all.  And yet all 57 pages in this book entertain.  Why?  Because the story is so well told.  Between the imaginative pictures and the dialog, you are able to follow the story perfectly.

There's plenty of humor, too.  I was laughing several times at just what Piggie did to try to fly.  The final pages offer the best joke of the book, but I was laughing pretty hard at some of the stuff that came before.

The dialog is placed in bubbles that are color coded, so it's always easy to tell who is speaking, although there's only a time or two that it isn't already obvious.

Each page contains a sentence or two at the most, and a couple just have a picture on them.  The word choice is simple enough that many beginning readers could gain confidence from this fun story.

Telling a complete story with dialog and pictures can't be easy, but Mo Willems makes it look natural.  You and your kids will love Today I Will Fly!