Pigs Make Me Sneeze

Title: Pigs Make Me Sneeze

Author: Mo Willems

Author Study #1

Let me just say, I am a huge fan of Mo Willems! I absolutely love his work and the Elephant and Piggie series is no exception! After finishing Pigs Make Me Sneeze, I couldn’t help but smile. The book made me laugh and was so cute and funny. The story is about two best friends – one an elephant and one a pig. As they are trying to find out what to do with their day, Elephant can’t stop sneezing! Every time he tries to talk he ends up going “ACHOO”. Elephant finally concludes that he must be allergic to his best friend, piggie, and there is no sadder news than being allergic to your best friend. After visiting the doctor (who happens to be a cat), Elephant concludes he must be allergic to cats too because he just cannot stop sneezing! Finally he learns that he just has a cold, but piggie has already found this out as he himself now has a cold. 

Young students will be especially intrigued by this story because of the amazing illustrations. Elephant and piggie express so much emotion; each face they make is explicit on each page and is quite funny for the students to see. I absolutely love how the pictures can tell the story almost perfectly without the words even being there. The different sizes of font provided are also nice. The aaaa and the chooo are especially large helping to emphasize the dramatic nature of the sneezes. I would personally recommend this book for any classroom teacher K-2. This story is perfect for struggling independent readers or as a read-aloud lesson. It will be sure to have your students laughing!