A Big Guy Took My Ball!-An Elephant and Piggie Book

My kids totally enjoy these books and keep reaching for them at reading time. They love the characters, all the emotions, and the fun each story brings. I love them because it keeps them engaged with reading and provides good lessons for them to learn.

Bought this for my 2nd grader who isn’t a strong reader and struggled. It was fantastic! It’s easy to read, the words are bold and big. It’s written with children in mind. The book is a great length too.

If you're unfamiliar with author/illustrator Mo Willems "Elephant & Piggie" series, please do yourself a favor and pick up a few. (I'll recommend my favorites at the end of the review.) His stories are often clever (a rarity in children's books), heartwarming, funny, and sweet. This book has each of those elements on display. Elephant Gerald is a pragmatic but passionate realist. Piggie is an effervescent joy. They're best friends. (Aw...) In this book, Piggie runs to Gerald stating a "big guy" has taken her ball. Gerald, also a "big guy" heroically seeks to retrieve said ball. He's in for more than one surprise. Mo Willems effortlessly tackles several childhood issues in this book without the audience ever once catching a whiff of parable or preaching. There's playground territory (who gets the ball?), big guys vs. little guys, insecurities, acceptance, and seeing beyond differences to get along. ("Adult authors" spend hundreds of pages without ever coming to as graceful a conclusion as Mr. Willems does in a 5-minute picture book.) His illustrations are simple line drawings that contain brilliant expressiveness that will be enjoyed by the adult readers at least as much as the children. (This is, again, par for the course for the series.) Elephant & Piggie books are perfect for joint reading with a young reader. The cartoon-style thought-bubble dialogue makes for easy back-and-forth scripting, adding an element of interactivity to each book. My little reader will often say, "You can be Gerald. I'll be Piggie." It's some of the most effortless fun we've had reading together. While this is not my favorite book in the Elephant & Piggie series, I still like it A LOT, worthy of a 5-star rating. It's not a "favorite" only because Mr. Willems has set the bar so high with some of his prior efforts. (See We Are in a Book! (An Elephant and Piggie Book) , Should I Share My Ice Cream? (An Elephant and Piggie Book) , and I Am Invited to a Party! (An Elephant and Piggie Book) for some really spectacular children's literature!) "A Big Guy Took My Ball!" is still head-and-shoulders above most of the competition. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

As soon as we saw this available a few months ago, I knew we had to order it! We fell in love with Elephant and Piggie just over a year ago, and have since fattened our bookshelves quite a bit, with a special section reserved for Piggie & Gerald. Piggie is happily wandering along, being her cute Piggie self, and she finds a ball and starts to play with it. Then a "big guy" came along and took the ball from Piggie, who ran to Gerald. Gerald, in all his best friend valor, was infuriated with this big guy, who was making all the other "big guys" look bad! He decided to handle it himself, stand up for his friend, and get that ball back! If you want to know the rest, you'll need to order the book. ;) The writing style is so imaginative, yet simple enough that the books make for excellent early reading practice. My 4-year old picked up this book, obviously for the first time ever, and he read the whole thing aloud to us! Actually this book gave us the perfect opportunity to start talking about punctuation and tone, and I showed my son how the squiggly lines are question marks, and they help us to know when the sentence is actually a question. Also, the various sizes of text, as well as using bold and italicized font, help the reader learn how and where to emphasize the dialogue! Once again, we are so happy with Mr. Willems' writing! Everything about the story, text, illustrations, and (shhhh) learning lessons come together to create a great book! I'm so happy we ordered this one, and at such an affordable price too!

We love the Elephant and Piggie books. My kids are 4 and 8 and have both loved them for years and I’ve been a fan since before kids for their fabulous illustrations and portrayal of emotions. They are funny and cute. This one if one of our favorites.

We love these books! My son (2 years old) loves the Gerald and Piggy books. This is another great one!

My children, ages 4 and 10, and I both adore Mo Willems! We have about 5-6 of the Elephant and Piggie books and recently added this one to our collection. It's a very cute story about our friend Piggy, who finds and plays with a ball until a "big guy" took it from her. She immediately tells her friend, Gerald, who is outraged and goes off to find the ball-thief. Gerald is shocked by the SIZE of the thief and avoids confronting him. Later, the BF guy comes up to them and expresses how nobody plays with him because he is so big. The two friends take pity on him and decide to play with him. Sweet story that teaches how fiiends come in many sizes. It does a great job demonstrating compassion, friendship, and tolerance in a very comical way. The illustrations are simple but beyond charming. This author/illustrator does a great job in capturing realistic emotions and scenarios experienced in childhood. My children can relate well, and often refer back to these stories when sharing about their day.

my granddaughter seems to be dyslexic. This book is really good for her! She read it for the first time in 10 minutes! Her confidence is growing.

A mi hija de 6 años le encanta hacer las voces de elefante y cerdita. Ama todos los libros de Gerald and piggie!!

Small children love it, older children find it amusing - a joy for adults to read with children. I work as a volunteer with reluctant boy readers - the books from this series are the only ones they actually ask to read. 'We are Being Read' from this series is the overall favourite.

LOVE THESE BOOKS! I'm an esl teacher and my kids love this series. Laugh out loud funny for the kids (english or french)

Me encantan los libros de Elephant y Piggie! Están ilustrados de manera muy divertida y sobre todo, la historia es genial! Tratan temas que preocupan a los niños de manera directa, sin falsas moralinas y con muchísimo humor. Los quiero todos!

My kids love these books.