Books Reviews: Hyperion

Listen to My Trumpet. An Elephant & Piggie Book. Mo Willems. 2012. Hyperion. 64 pages.

Gerald! Sit! Sit! Sit! Do not move! I HAVE A TRUMPET!!! Do you want to listen to my trumpet?

I absolutely love and adore (in every way) Mo Willems' Elephant and Piggie books. I do. (Some people anticipate YA releases, for me, it is all about Mo.) I just love, love, love these two characters. I love Gerald, the elephant. I love Piggie, the pig. I love the way these two animals interact. I love the way their friendship is depicted. I love the humor, the emotion. I love the way the emotion is illustrated--the facial expressions, the body language. I just find this series of books for young readers to be practically perfect in every way. These books are just too much fun to be missed. So the newest release in the series is Listen to My Trumpet! It did not disappoint. I just loved it!!!

In this one, Piggie is oh-so-happy to share her "music" with Gerald. Is Gerald equally happy to hear his friend's "music"? Well, Gerald is tactful, I'd say. (An elephant (or a person) with less restraint might have said much, much more.) And I do like the fact that Gerald doesn't hesitate to be honest with his friend, all the while being thoughtful and considerate. Of course, there's a twist to this one--like so many others in this series--and I won't spoil it for you.

The illustrations are so much fun in this one!!! I mean the text is good; the text is funny. There is much to love about it. But the illustrations really steal the show in this one!!! I just LOVED, LOVED, LOVED all the illustrations of Piggie trying her best to play the trumpet. (For example, page 11 and 16). And I loved the illustrations of Gerald trying to listen to Piggie play her trumpet. (For example, page 20 and 21).

Other books in the series:

I Will Surprise My Friend
Can I Play Too?
Elephants Cannot Dance
I Am Going
Pigs Make Me Sneeze
Watch Me Throw The Ball
Are You Ready to Play Outside
I Love My New Toy
I Am Invited to A Party
My Friend is Sad
Today I Will Fly
There Is A Bird On Your Head
We Are In A Book
I Broke My Trunk!
Should I Share My Ice Cream?
Happy Pig Day

Read Listen To My Trumpet

If you love Mo Willems
If you love Gerald and Piggie, if you think Elephant & Piggie is one of the best series ever!
If you love elephants or pigs
If you are looking for the best of the best in early readers
If you like funny books

The Way We Fall. Megan Crewe. 2012. Hyperion. 320 pages.

Sept 2
Leo,
It's about six hours since you left the island. The way things have been, I know you wouldn't have expected me to come to see you off, but I keep thinking about how you waved and waved from the dock five years ago, when I was leaving for Toronto.

The Way We Fall reminded me of Susan Beth Pfeffer's Life As We Knew It. Not that the catastrophe's are that similar. They're not. (I still haven't decided which is more devastating...) Perhaps it is the personal touch of the narrators that make them similar. Miranda writing a personal journal that might--one day--be shared with others; Kaelyn writing specifically to an ex-best-friend, Leo. (She wanted to be more than friends, he didn't. There was awkwardness, silence, and avoidance.)

So The Way We Fall is set on a small Canadian island. Kaelyn's father is a doctor, a specialist, whose expertise is about to become essential. For there is a virus, a very deadly virus, spreading through the island. Within a week or two the island will be under quarantine to keep people from spreading the virus to the mainland. The survival rate is almost non-existent, out of hundreds of cases, only a handful have survived. (I can't remember if it is five or eight--but it is a SMALL number.) Once people start showing the symptoms, that's it, that's the end of hope and the beginning of misery. Because in the first few days, victims KNOW what's happening, true, they forget by the time the illness has progressed, and by the time it reaches the final stages they're beyond caring, but still, it's NOT a pretty way to go. The dust jacket says it all, "it starts with an itch you just can't shake. Then comes a fever and a tickle in your throat. A few days later, you'll be blabbing your secrets and chatting with strangers like they're old friends. Three more, and the paranoid hallucinations kick in. And then you're dead."

So The Way We Fall is a the personal account of our young heroine, Kaelyn. Through her eyes we witness the best and worst of humanity--as the island's society collapses a bit. As some people in the community go out of control...

Read The Way We Fall

If you're a fan of survival stories like Life As We Knew It or Ashfall
If you're a fan of dystopias, this one is plague/virus driven

Books Reviews

Listen to My Trumpet! (Elephant and Piggie)

The Way We Fall (YA)