There Is a Bird on Your Head!

There Is a Bird on Your Head!

by Mo Willems
Illustration by Mo Willems

Best-selling picture book creator Mo Willems continues his charming Elephant and Piggie first reader series. The books feature two lovable and funny characters: an optimistic (and sometimes reckless) pig and a cautious, pessimistic elephant. Children who sat on their parents' laps to have Pigeon read to them will eagerly take the plunge with these books to start reading on their own. Each book has been vetted by an early learning specialist. These sweet and surprising stories are a much-needed breath of fresh air in the early reader arena.

What would you do if a bird landed on your head? There is a Bird on Your Head is a Winner of the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award and the Charlotte Award. Like the other books in the Elephant and Piggie series, the drawings are simple, use little color variation, and have no background - and yet still manage to keep you entertained and make you laugh out loud. Elephant and Piggie are delightful in their candor, always wearing their emotions on their sleeves so readers never need to wonder how they feel. Their expressive faces and comical body language are also wonderful additions. The sentences are short and simple which some repetition.

The humor in this book will entertain both you and your child, whether you're laughing at Elephant's delayed reaction to having a bird on his head and then finally throwing a fit, or you're giggling at Piggie's extreme emotion in watching the love birds. Elephant learns a lesson in this book that you can emphasize to your little one; sometimes, you simple need to ask, rather than throwing a fit first. This is a great repeat-read, so perhaps once your little one feels comfortable with it, you can take turns reading and seeing how they portray the characters' voices.

My four-year-old niece Emily loves the whole Elephant and Piggie series, and actually has this book memorized now. The first time we read this book she stopped and asked me if love birds lived around our neighborhood. I laughed and told her yes. Later that afternoon, I caught her staring out the window intently and asked what she was doing. She was looking for love birds.

--Audra