Watch Me Throw the Ball by: Mo Willems

Watch Me Throw the Ball

Willems, Mo. (2009). Watch Me Throw the Ball. New York: Hyperion Books for Children.

Genre: Fiction

Lexile: Easy Reader

This book is part of a series of Elephant and Piggie books, about Piggie and Elephant throwing the ball and who is better at it, is it how far it goes, or how much fun you have throwing it? It talks about how hard Elephant has practiced on throwing his ball, and then when Piggie tries Elephant doesn’t think he does a very good job, but Piggie thinks something else!

This book portrays social development because it talks about manners; Piggie is very polite when he asks to use Gerald, the elephant’s ball. The book also works on language development and using verbs in sentences, and their different tenses.

Style- This book is written in reader response style the pig and the elephant have their own talking bubbles and when using in a read aloud or pair share students can pick a part and use their expression as they read through the book!

Illustration- Mo Willems has illustrated this book simply with simple pictures that depict emotions easily. Most of the pages include both characters and perhaps one other object. Their faces and emotions are displayed clearly so students can begin to understand expressionism as well as language that do not need words.

Mini Lesson- This would be good in a struggling reader group and allowing students to act out the parts and each try to do the facial expressions so they can match words with images.

Enjoyment- This book is meant for readers from ages 4-8, and struggling readers. The book is a funny and enjoyable read!