Are You Ready to Play Outside?

Geisel Medal Award Winner 2009

Citation:

Are You Ready to Play Outside? by Mo Willems. (Hyperion Books for Children, 2008).  57p. Geisel Picture Book.

Summary:

Gerald and Piggie find fun outside regardless of the weather.

Critique:

a.         The unassuming illustrations provide a balance between colors and simple lines while engaging the emerging reader with the use of easy sentences.

b.         Gerald and Piggie have outdoor plans that are spoiled when it begins to rain.  They soon discover the fun they can have in the rain.  The common language allows the reader to understand all of the emotions they experience as their plans change.

c.         “Now I like rain – and now the rain has stopped!  I am not a happy pig” (p. 50 - 52) takes the reader through the emotions that Piggie and Gerald experience allowing them to make an emotional connection.

Curriculum Connection:  

Are You Ready to Play Outside? is a must have book for any early childhood classrooms that study controlled vocabulary or beginning readers.  The well-known text and engaging illustrations make this book a new favorite.