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11th out of 136 books
—
545 voters
I Broke My Trunk! (Elephant and Piggie #14)
by
Mo Willems
Gerald is careful. Piggie is not.
Piggie cannot help smiling. Gerald can.
Gerald worries so that Piggie does not have to.
Gerald and Piggie are best friends.
In I Broke My Trunk! Gerald tells Piggie the long, crazy story about breaking his trunk. Will Piggie end up with a long, crazy story of her own?
Once again, Mo Willems creates another hilarious escapade starring the Geise...more
Hardcover, 64 pages
Published
February 8th 2011
by Disney-Hyperion
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Mommy's review from 11/26/11 -
I'm not a Willems fan. My six-year-old daughter is a Willems fan. Well, I don't think she was at first but somewhere along the way something changed.
In the past we would pick up one of Willems Elephant and Piggie books only when we happened to see one at the library. With this one Julia saw it listed on the GoodReads Annual Poll and insisted I order it along with the others that were being ordered that we hadn't yet read. I groaned to myself but dutifully listened...more
I'm not a Willems fan. My six-year-old daughter is a Willems fan. Well, I don't think she was at first but somewhere along the way something changed.
In the past we would pick up one of Willems Elephant and Piggie books only when we happened to see one at the library. With this one Julia saw it listed on the GoodReads Annual Poll and insisted I order it along with the others that were being ordered that we hadn't yet read. I groaned to myself but dutifully listened...more
1. Genre: Controlled Vocabulary (Geisel Award)
2. Summary: Gerald the elephant explains to Piggie, who is Gerald’s best friend, how he broke his trunk. Piggie became excited to tell Gerald’s story to someone else and broke his stout the same way Gerald broke his trunk, by running.
3. Critique:
(a.) Simplicity of text
(b.) This book contains repetitive text and short story line so that young readers can easily follow along and anticipate what will happen. This book is great for all beginning reader...more
2. Summary: Gerald the elephant explains to Piggie, who is Gerald’s best friend, how he broke his trunk. Piggie became excited to tell Gerald’s story to someone else and broke his stout the same way Gerald broke his trunk, by running.
3. Critique:
(a.) Simplicity of text
(b.) This book contains repetitive text and short story line so that young readers can easily follow along and anticipate what will happen. This book is great for all beginning reader...more
I Broke My Trunk by Mo Willems (Hyperion Books 2011). 57p. Controlled Vocabulary.
Summary: This is a funny story about an elephant who tells Piggie a long and crazy story of how he broke his trunk. It is unexpected and easy to read.
Critique:
a. This is a good book for beginner readers. The plot is funny and a lot of the words are sight words that the child should/will need to know.
b. Writing the story in speech bubbles made the story unusual and interesting. The characters facial expressions wer...more
Summary: This is a funny story about an elephant who tells Piggie a long and crazy story of how he broke his trunk. It is unexpected and easy to read.
Critique:
a. This is a good book for beginner readers. The plot is funny and a lot of the words are sight words that the child should/will need to know.
b. Writing the story in speech bubbles made the story unusual and interesting. The characters facial expressions wer...more
Genre: Controlled Vocabulary Picture Book
Summary: This is a story about an elephant named Gerald that comes to share his crazy story to his friend Piggie. He proceeds to tell his friend exactly how he broke his trunk. After Piggie learns of Gerald's story he runs off to tell his friends, but ends up with a story of his own to tell.
A) I couldn't help but to notice the "connection" to Pinocchio and the nose. It seems to me that Gerald is telling his friend a wild fib as to how he broke his nose. T...more
Summary: This is a story about an elephant named Gerald that comes to share his crazy story to his friend Piggie. He proceeds to tell his friend exactly how he broke his trunk. After Piggie learns of Gerald's story he runs off to tell his friends, but ends up with a story of his own to tell.
A) I couldn't help but to notice the "connection" to Pinocchio and the nose. It seems to me that Gerald is telling his friend a wild fib as to how he broke his nose. T...more
I Broke My Trunk was a fantastic book for easy readers. Although I am an adult, I still found myself laughing a Gerald's long, crazy story as to how he broke his trunk. I also caught myself, after each, page, wondering how Gerald really did break his trunk. If it wasn't the two hippos, rhino, or piano, then what could it have been?! As an easy-to-read book, illustrations are crucial in the story. Most young children that will get their hands on this book may not be able to read yet. However, wit...more
When Piggie sees that his friend Gerald has broken his trunk, he has to know what happened! Gerald warns Piggie that the story is long and crazy, but that just makes Piggie even more interested. As the story gets longer and crazier, Piggie discovers that this story may be more than he bargained for. How on earth did Gerald break his trunk?!
This book uses very simple, straightforward dialogue to tell an extremely funny story. The words and illustrations are simple and effective, the font sizes an...more
This book uses very simple, straightforward dialogue to tell an extremely funny story. The words and illustrations are simple and effective, the font sizes an...more
I Broke My Trunk! by Mo Willems
1. Genre: Easy-to-read Picture Book
2. Summary: Piggie wants to know how Gerald broke his trunk. Gerald tells a dramatic, long, and crazy story of how it happened.
3. Critique:
a. Area for comment: The cartoon style illustrations, with dialogue bubbles of what each character thinks or says, helps to tell this cute and crazy story.
b. Comment: The nice and simple illustrations of the two characters on a white page, along with the easy to read dialogue makes this a f...more
1. Genre: Easy-to-read Picture Book
2. Summary: Piggie wants to know how Gerald broke his trunk. Gerald tells a dramatic, long, and crazy story of how it happened.
3. Critique:
a. Area for comment: The cartoon style illustrations, with dialogue bubbles of what each character thinks or says, helps to tell this cute and crazy story.
b. Comment: The nice and simple illustrations of the two characters on a white page, along with the easy to read dialogue makes this a f...more
I Broke My Trunk is a 2012 Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book and this was part of the interest for me reading this book. I usually like Mo Willems' books because I find that most of my students not only enjoy the stories and find them funny but like to read them independently as well. They like how there aren't many words on the page and that all of the writing are in speech bubbles. This style of writing has motivated my students to pick up his books to read.
I Broke My Trunk is very similar to ma...more
I Broke My Trunk is very similar to ma...more
The stories that Mo Willems tells are always such a treat, and I Broke My Trunk! is no exception to that rule. In joining Elephant and Piggie on their fourteenth adventure together, we see Elephant (Gerald) enter the scene with a bandaged trunk. Naturally, Piggie wants to know just how Gerald broke his trunk, so the unfortunate elephant launches into the "long, crazy story" about how he happened to suffer the mishap that has marred his most prominent facial feature. It is, for sure, a crazy sto...more
I Broke My Trunk! (Elephant and Piggie #14) by Mo Willems is the long, crazy story about how Gerald broke his trunk, with a twist at the end.
Gerald's long, crazy story about how he broke his trunk involves lifting Hippo, Hippo and Rhino, two hippos, one rhino and a piano, and an accident. When Piggie runs to tell someone Gerald's crazy story, she also has an accident. The whole sequence appears to be repeating at story's end.
The text is in a large font, with lots of humor and repetition, making...more
Gerald's long, crazy story about how he broke his trunk involves lifting Hippo, Hippo and Rhino, two hippos, one rhino and a piano, and an accident. When Piggie runs to tell someone Gerald's crazy story, she also has an accident. The whole sequence appears to be repeating at story's end.
The text is in a large font, with lots of humor and repetition, making...more
* It's always a cause for celebration when a new Elephant & Piggie is released!
* The way Willems' deft illustrations convey exactly what the character is feeling, without the need for words, is really nothing short of genius.
* In a few short pages, with spare prose, Willems has created a suspenseful story that will have you and your young
reader hooked from start to finish.
* Your young reader should be able to read it by themselves after only a few shared readings.
* For all those pigeon f...more
* The way Willems' deft illustrations convey exactly what the character is feeling, without the need for words, is really nothing short of genius.
* In a few short pages, with spare prose, Willems has created a suspenseful story that will have you and your young
reader hooked from start to finish.
* Your young reader should be able to read it by themselves after only a few shared readings.
* For all those pigeon f...more
We just discovered the Elephant & Piggie series at the library and have checked out every one they have. They are a bit easy for my 7-year-old to read on his own, but he loves that they are easy enough that he can sit and read them to his younger brother without any adult help. The 5-yr-old thinks they are hilarious and has memorized several books. The two youngest act out the story lines during their play time.
My older boys (both 11) will read these on their own. Even I think they're hilari...more
My older boys (both 11) will read these on their own. Even I think they're hilari...more
This is a cute story of how an elephant, Gerald, broke his trunk. He runs to tell his best friend, Piggie, the funny story of how his trunk got broke. Once again, I read another Mo Willems book that I LOVE. There is something about his books that just put me in a good mood. His characters actually remind me of me, of how I tell stories, how I talk (and sometimes don't make sense).
Though this is a book for the primary grades, I think anyone would enjoy this book, after all I laughed when I read i...more
Though this is a book for the primary grades, I think anyone would enjoy this book, after all I laughed when I read i...more
Citation: I broke my trunk!, by Mo Willems. (Hyperion Books for Children, 2011). 57p. Controlled Vocabulary.
Genre: Picture Book – Controlled Vocabulary
A. One of the best assets of the book was the readability. The language used was very simple and straightforward.
B. The simple language makes the book easy to follow and the illustrations make it fun to read. The only downside to I broke my trunk! is the length of the story. It is 57 pages and I do not know if a young child would be able to pay at...more
Genre: Picture Book – Controlled Vocabulary
A. One of the best assets of the book was the readability. The language used was very simple and straightforward.
B. The simple language makes the book easy to follow and the illustrations make it fun to read. The only downside to I broke my trunk! is the length of the story. It is 57 pages and I do not know if a young child would be able to pay at...more
How did Gerald break his trunk? It is a long crazy story involving a hippo, a rhino, hippo’s sister, and a piano. Gerald balances all these heavy things on his trunk, but that’s not how he broke it!
So, I follow the School Library Journal blog Heavy Medal, (which is, I think, the best mock Newbery blog) and they had a pretty strong argument for why this book, which contains maybe 50 words, should be a contender for this year’s Newbery. Seriously! They put it on their short list. It has great cha...more
So, I follow the School Library Journal blog Heavy Medal, (which is, I think, the best mock Newbery blog) and they had a pretty strong argument for why this book, which contains maybe 50 words, should be a contender for this year’s Newbery. Seriously! They put it on their short list. It has great cha...more
this seemingly predictable, yet humorously unpredictable tale of how elephant broke his trunk, children will encounter some repetitive words, some new words and many sight words. The engaging nature of the story, along with the absolutely spot on expressions of the characters, will draw children into the story and keep them reading. The illustrations are simple cartoon drawings with no background to distract the reader. The text is easy to follow in bubbles of different colors for each character...more
Not one of my very favorite Elephant and Piggie readers (not even my favorite of 2011 - that would be Happy Pig Day!), but still very good. As usual, the illustrations are deceptively simple, but still convey scads of information particularly through the expressions on Elephant and Piggie's faces. Lots of white space gives a new reader's eyes time to rest while the speech bubbles clearly direct attention to the location of the text. The word choice is limited and repetitive, but the story is sti...more
Have you ever had a friend who tells stories that take a while to get to the point? Or get into trouble that's so goofy that you have to laugh, even while you feel their pain? This story is about Elephant, who is both of those friends rolled into one.
As he is standing there with his trunk in a cast, he tries to explain to his friend Piggie how such an odd thing happened. The story unfolds slowly, ever so slowly, and the resulting punch line to the story more than pays for the slow unfolding.
I'm...more
As he is standing there with his trunk in a cast, he tries to explain to his friend Piggie how such an odd thing happened. The story unfolds slowly, ever so slowly, and the resulting punch line to the story more than pays for the slow unfolding.
I'm...more
When Gerald arrives on the scene, he is sporting a big bandage and proceeds to tell Piggy a long-winded story about how he broke his trunk. Piggy keeps waiting for him to get to the point, but it takes awhile to do so. Of course, the cause of the break is somewhat anticlimactic, and Piggy races off to share the story with another friend when she, too, has the same problem. I like the characters and their antics and the simple illustrations more than Should I Share My Ice Cream, but most of the y...more
An easy reader with a more complex plot than most, Mo Willems I Broke My Trunk! is an interesting and unpredictable tale of how Elephant broke his trunk. The story is entertaining and contains unrealistic elements that will make young children laugh (such as an elephant lifting two hippos, a rhino and a piano on his trunk)! Best of all, Mo Willems’s illustrations utilize simplistic lines, few colors, and a white background to create his signature and successful pictures. A fun book for beginning...more
On our last read aloud our teacher told us to pick what ever book we wanted so i choose this book. This kids loved it and thought it was super funny. I think Mo Willems does a good job reaching out to all different kinds of students in his books and all different interest levels.
My summary,
Gerald is telling Piggy these crazy stories of who he has been putting on top of his trunk. Piggy thinks this is how he breaks his trunk but its not. Gerald breaks his trunk going to tell Piggy about all the...more
My summary,
Gerald is telling Piggy these crazy stories of who he has been putting on top of his trunk. Piggy thinks this is how he breaks his trunk but its not. Gerald breaks his trunk going to tell Piggy about all the...more
Mo Willems gets a great deal of my love and money because he is funny, smart and not ashamed to be silly with his books. Case in point, the next instalment of the whimsical Elephant and Piggie series.
In this instalment, Piggie finds that Gerald has broken his trunk and asks what happened. What unfolds is a long, and convoluted story involving two hippos, a rhino, a piano and a crazy stunt. It also has some of Willems trademark wacky misdirection and slapstick humour. Kids of all ages will love t...more
In this instalment, Piggie finds that Gerald has broken his trunk and asks what happened. What unfolds is a long, and convoluted story involving two hippos, a rhino, a piano and a crazy stunt. It also has some of Willems trademark wacky misdirection and slapstick humour. Kids of all ages will love t...more
Our dynamic duo of Elephant and Piggie are back in a new installment that finds Gerald having to explain his sudden need for excitement with new acquaintances. Gerald doesn't exactly walk on the wild side, but this time he thought it would be fun to balance several buddies and an instrument on his trunk. The hilarity comes through in the flashback illustrations, tinged in periwinkle blue, and from the painful fact that Gerald has difficulties in telling a concise story that gets to the point on...more
Feb 04, 2013
Cara Farmer
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Shelves:
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humor,
imagination,
my-book,
read-out-loud,
vocabulary,
young-readers,
series,
book-awards
I'm pretty sure that I am in love with Mo Williams right now. I think that his books are so funny yet very simple. I picked this book not sure what to expect but to be honest I wish I would have just bought the whole series. Piggie and Elephant are so funny together and they had me laughing out loud very often (I was in public while doing this and looked crazy). This would be a great book to learn about making predictions with. This would also be a great way to encourage story telling and sharin...more
Notes: I Broke My Trunk!, by Mo Willems is a fun book that students will enjoy and it talks about how someone got hurt.
Book Review: In this book, Willems does a great job on explaining how we must becareful in the activities that we participate in. There is a lot that you can talk about when reading it. Gerald does not make many good decisions that could have resulted in him getting hurt more. It will help teach children to becareful.
Recommend: I would recommend this book to students in grades K...more
Book Review: In this book, Willems does a great job on explaining how we must becareful in the activities that we participate in. There is a lot that you can talk about when reading it. Gerald does not make many good decisions that could have resulted in him getting hurt more. It will help teach children to becareful.
Recommend: I would recommend this book to students in grades K...more
Newbery buzz for THIS? *boggle* I don't get it. This is a book for kids who like their books comfortable and easy to digest, just like a cartoon sitcom. Kids who move on to Junie B. Jones, then V.C. Andrews, then the Twilight series, then mass-market paperbacks.
The illustrations are pedestrian at very best. The repetition and rhythm are decent, but... oh, hell, I'm pretty sure that Robert McCloskey & Ezra Jack Keats ruined me completely for these modern day half-assed, phoned-in, comic-book...more
The illustrations are pedestrian at very best. The repetition and rhythm are decent, but... oh, hell, I'm pretty sure that Robert McCloskey & Ezra Jack Keats ruined me completely for these modern day half-assed, phoned-in, comic-book...more
Category: Grades K-3, Book #21
Piggie and Gerald are best friends. Gerald tells Piggie a very long story about how he broke his trunk. Piggie soaks it all in and comes up with a story of his own. This is a great read aloud, as all Mo Willems books are. This book could also be used to talk about tall tales to teach children that honesty is always the best policy.
Reviews:
There are many positive reviews from customers on the popular websites, but I could not find any from "reputable" sources. I was...more
Piggie and Gerald are best friends. Gerald tells Piggie a very long story about how he broke his trunk. Piggie soaks it all in and comes up with a story of his own. This is a great read aloud, as all Mo Willems books are. This book could also be used to talk about tall tales to teach children that honesty is always the best policy.
Reviews:
There are many positive reviews from customers on the popular websites, but I could not find any from "reputable" sources. I was...more
Gerald broke his trunk. Piggie wants to know how. Gerald starts with a tale of him meeting a hippo. Then he goes on to say he wanted to play with the hippo and carry him on his truck. Going through the details is making Piggie very antsy. So after telling Piggie about the hippo’s sister, a rhino and a piano, Piggie is so upset that he hasn’t learned how Gerald broke his trunk. It is only until Gerald tells him about how he was running to share all the good news with his best friend, Piggie, that...more
This is a very cute book about a pig and an elephant. The elephant breaks his nose and tells the pig all about his mishap of breaking his trunk. It is a very long and tedious story but it is a great book with cute pictures that tell about two best friends. I think this book is great for early readers. It is a short book with limited words with great pictures to help the children understand the story. This is a great book for my classroom because I also want to teach younger, preschool aged child...more
Unfortunately, this book is not as good as some of the other Elephant and Piggie books. We all especially enjoyed WE ARE IN A BOOK and TODAY I WILL FLY. But this one is not the best of the series, so I don't really understand why people were thinking it should get an award. After all, awards like Newbery, Caldecott and Geisel aren't supposed to be given for a body of work. They're for the one book itself. This book actually received a Geisel Honor this year, and I don't think I would even have g...more
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#1 New York Times Bestselling author and illustrator Mo Willems is best known for his Caldecott Honor winning picture books Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and Knuffle Bunny: a cautionary tale.
In addition to such picture books as Leonardo the Terrible Monster, Edwina the Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct, and Time to Pee, Mo has created the Elephant and Piggie books, a series of early r...more
More about Mo Willems...
In addition to such picture books as Leonardo the Terrible Monster, Edwina the Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct, and Time to Pee, Mo has created the Elephant and Piggie books, a series of early r...more
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Feb 12, 2012 11:11pm