Early/Easy Reader Book Review

Title: There is a Bird on Your Head! (An Elephant and Piggie Book)

Author: Mo Willems

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Year: 2007

ISBN: 978-1423106869

Format: Print, hardcover, 64 pages

Summary: 
Piggie tries to help her best friend Elephant deal with the fact that there is a bird on his head. However, as the story progresses, Elephant finds that more is on his head than the two originally thought. When they finally figure out how to get rid of the bird, Piggie then finds out that she has a bird on her head!

Audience:
Scholastic, Amazon, School Library Journal, and Google Books all list this easy reader as intended for children PreK-kindergarten. I would agree. The simple dialog, funny pictures, and repetitive story line are appropriate for children 3-5.
 
Strengths:
There's a Bird on Your Head! has many strengths including the following:

• Two lovable, main characters (Piggie and Elephant) that are drawn simply and are easily recognizable
• Repetitive dialog that includes counting skills
• Slow-building story line that offers small children opportunities to infer what might happen next
• Humorous ending with the birds and nest re-locating to Piggie's head
• Great mix between dialog (written on comic-style dialog boxes), white space, and characters
• Text-free pages interspersed for guessing, thinking, and predicting 
• Funny story line that is sure to bring a smile to anyone's face
• Teaches polite manners (Elephant asking the birds to move in a nice way)
• It's part of a series of easy readers

Weaknesses:
This book does not have an abundance of weaknesses, but here are some areas where it could improve a bit:

• A bit more detail to the character's faces to create more emotion
• A fun question posed to the audience or readers: What would you do if you had a bird on your head? Or something similar asked by Piggie. I think little children would have fun coming up with their own ideas of how to get rid of the birds before Piggie suggests that Elephant ask them to move.

Programming Connections:
This book would be fun for reading aloud during story-time in a children's library. The pictures are simple and the story is straightforward. You could easily read it while showing the pictures. The dialog is simple, so it wouldn't be hard to memorize and create different voices for the characters. It would also be a good book to read when reviewing counting basic numbers and teaching about problem-solving. The repetitive dialog would help young readers learn and memorize new vocabulary.
 
Awards:
This book has earned the following honors:

• Geisel Medal
•  Favorable reviews by The Horn Book and Publisher's Weekly

Overall Rating: 
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this children's book. It possesses a universal quality that would make it appropriate for children across the globe. Piggie and Elephant are fun characters and I can see why the series certainly sparks a love for independent reading among young children. I would give it 5 out of 5 stars.