I Broke My Trunk!

It's obvious I love Mo Willems for his hilarious and sometimes ridiculous plot lines. This is another one. The simplistic yet expressive drawing of the characters tell the story as much as the words do. That Gerald lifted everybody on his trunk, but running to Piggie and falling is what breaks it, is unexpected and very funny. No real moral lesson here, unless its just to watch where you are going.
I can see why this won the Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor. Just like Fox in Sox or One Fish Two Fish, it helps you read with stories that are silly, but use words that help you read better.

How did Gerald break his trunk? It is a long crazy story involving a hippo, a rhino, hippo’s sister, and a piano. Gerald balances all these heavy things on his trunk, but that’s not how he broke it!

So, I follow the School Library Journal blog Heavy Medal, (which is, I think, the best mock Newbery blog) and they had a pretty strong argument for why this book, which contains maybe 50 words, should be a contender for this year’s Newbery. Seriously! They put it on their short list. It has great characters, a funny plot, and, they say it’s unquestionably the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children ages 2-8. And, of course, it’s really funny and you want to read it over and over again taking turns being show more Elephant and Piggie. show less

Not one of my very favorite Elephant and Piggie readers (not even my favorite of 2011 - that would be [b:Happy Pig Day!|10845916|Happy Pig Day!|Mo Willems|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327962022s/10845916.jpg|15760394]), but still very good. As usual, the illustrations are deceptively simple, but still convey scads of information particularly through the expressions on Elephant and Piggie's faces. Lots of white space gives a new reader's eyes time to rest while the speech bubbles clearly direct attention to the location of the text. The word choice is limited and repetitive, but the story is still highly engaging and funny - not at all boring. I continue to love this series and am not surprised that one has been a Geisel winner or show more honor nearly every year they've existed. show less

Summary - Elephant and Piggy are best friends. Piggy worries when Gerald (Elephant) breaks his trunk. Through the whole story Gerald explains what happens. It's funny because he has a super long explanation.

Reflection - I think it is funny that he drags out what happened. It makes you want to keep reading it to find out. Kept my kids entertained through the whole book.

Classroom Ideas -
1. Let the kids tell me a story of something that happened to them.
2. Look at the pictures to the book.

Gerald, the gray elephant with glasses, shares with Piggie how his trunk broke because she really wants to know. So she listens attentively and with expectation to Gerald's crazy story. It's a delightful conversation between these two characters that will hold young people's attention.The scenarios that follow next leave the reader laughing aloud and adults will enjoy, too. The illustrations are simple in style and adorable. I especially like the one of Gerald lifting Hippo on his trunk. Soon Rhino shows up and yes, you guessed it. Plus, add Rhino's sister, along with her piano. Piggie impatiently asks, "How did you break your trunk?!" You've just got to get this funny book and read the conclusion. My 6 year old grandson loves this one. show more I do, too! show less

"I Broke My Trunk!" by Mo Willems is a hilarious series book about an elephant named Gerald and his best friend Piggie. In this particular tale, Gerald tells Piggie the crazy story of how he broke his trunk.

Kindergarteners and first graders really get a kick out of this series, which features easy, repetitive vocabulary, and illustrations supportive of the text. In my opinion, its two-person dialogue makes for a great readers' theatre script, especially for those English Language Learners and struggling readers.

The facial expressions in this one! And it really keeps the suspense going as it plays out what happened to elephant's trunk one palmwidth of rope at a time.