Elephant & Piggie - We Are in a Book! — Chapter 1

About This Passage

Selected because Piggie has just figured out something almost no character ever figures out: that there is a reader on the other side of the page. Mo Willems teaches dialogue punctuation here, and the copywork shows how a single tiny idea ("I can make the reader say a word") opens a brand new game in the story.

Narration Prompt

Tell someone what happened in this story in order. When you get to the most important part, slow down and tell it carefully — what happened, why it mattered, and what you think about it.

Discussion Questions

1. Gerald says, "I think someone is looking at us." Piggie asks, "Who is looking at us? A monster?" Gerald says, "No. It is a reader." How do Gerald and Piggie know there is a reader looking at them? What in the story makes you think so?
2. Piggie figures out that she can make the reader say the word "banana." She tries it, and you (the reader) probably said it out loud. Was it kind of Piggie to make you say a silly word, or was it tricky? What in the story makes you think so?

+ 2 more questions in the complete study guide