SLIS 5420 Module 1 WE ARE IN A BOOK

We Are in a Book! by Mo Willems

Book Cover

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Book Summary
In We Are In a Book, Gerald and Piggie talk to each other about being read by someone since they are the main characters in the book. Piggie points out that the reader is reading the word bubbles on each page. Piggie then proves himself right to Gerald that he can make the reader say anything he wants him or her to by putting the word "Banana" in a word bubble. Gerald and Piggie cannot get over themselves being in control of what the reader reads aloud. Toward the end, Piggie points out that unfortunately all books will come to an end. Gerald gets sad because he wants to be read all the time so he decides to tell the reader to keep reading the book by putting the words "Hello. Will you please read us again?" in a word bubble.

Reference
Willems, M. (2010). We Are in A Book. New York: Hyperion Books for Children.

Librarian's Corner
We Are In a Book is a fun book that demonstrates the power of words on the pages of a book. It shows the reader that the reader of a book reads what the author and illustrator put on the pages. It sends a positive message to beginner writers. Appropriate for kindergarten through 3rd grade.

Review
From Kirkus
Stalwart friends Piggie and Gerald the elephant push the metafictive envelope in a big way when they realize that "someone is looking at us." Is it a monster? worries Gerald. "No," replies the squinting Piggie. "It is... / a reader! / A reader is reading us!" How? wonders Gerald. Piggie drapes herself on a word bubble to demonstrate: "We are in a book!" "THAT IS SO COOL!" Joy leads to a little bit of clever practical joking—Piggie figures out how to make the readers say "banana" out loud, and hilarity ensues—which gives way to existential angst: "The book ends?!" exclaims an appalled Gerald. Emergent readers just beginning to grapple one-on-one with the rules of the printed codex will find the friends' antics both funny and provocative: Just who is in control here, anyway? As always, Willems displays his customary control of both body language and pacing even as he challenges his readers to engage with his characters and the physicality of their book. The friends' solution to the book's imminent end? "Hello. Will you please read us again?" You bet. 2010, Hyperion, 64 pp., $8.99. Category: Early reader. Ages 4 to 8. Starred Review. © 2010 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Kirkus Reviews. (2010, September). [Review of the book We Are In a Book, by Mo Willems]. Kirkus Reviews, 78(17).

Value to the Library
Elementary School Library
The book, We Are In a Book, can be used by the school librarian to aid classroom teachers in helping beginner writers to put words on paper. The librarian can video tape students from upper grades reading aloud this book and show it to the primary-grade students. The primary-grade students will be able to see that these upper-grade students are reading aloud what the author wrote on the pages, even the words that are not in word (speech) bubbles. The school librarian can brainstorm with the primary-grade students on silly words that they can make the readers of their book say.