What do you think?
Rate this book
Elephant & Piggie #6
I Will Surprise My Friend!
Gerald is careful. Piggie is not.
Piggie cannot help smiling. Gerald can.
Gerald worries so that Piggie does not have to.
Gerald and Piggie are best friends.
In I Will Surprise My Friend!, Gerald and Piggie want to play a game and surprise each other-but the biggest surprise is the one they least expect.
Piggie cannot help smiling. Gerald can.
Gerald worries so that Piggie does not have to.
Gerald and Piggie are best friends.
In I Will Surprise My Friend!, Gerald and Piggie want to play a game and surprise each other-but the biggest surprise is the one they least expect.
64 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
18 people are currently reading
1628 people want to read
About the author
Mo Willems
231 books4,119 followers#1 New York Times Bestselling author and illustrator Mo Willems is best known for his Caldecott Honor winning picture books Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and Knuffle Bunny: a cautionary tale.
In addition to such picture books as Leonardo the Terrible Monster, Edwina the Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct, and Time to Pee, Mo has created the Elephant and Piggie books, a series of early readers, and published You Can Never Find a Rickshaw When it Monsoons, an annotated cartoon journal sketched during a year-long voyage around the world in 1990-91.
The New York Times Book Review called Mo “the biggest new talent to emerge thus far in the 00's."
Mo’s work books have been translated into a myriad of languages, spawned animated shorts and theatrical musical productions, and his illustrations, wire sculpture, and carved ceramics have been exhibited in galleries and museums across the nation.
Mo began his career as a writer and animator for television, garnering 6 Emmy awards for his writing on Sesame Street, creating Nickelodeon's The Off-Beats, Cartoon Network’s Sheep in the Big City and head-writing Codename: Kids Next Door.
He lives in Brooklyn, New York with his family.
In addition to such picture books as Leonardo the Terrible Monster, Edwina the Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct, and Time to Pee, Mo has created the Elephant and Piggie books, a series of early readers, and published You Can Never Find a Rickshaw When it Monsoons, an annotated cartoon journal sketched during a year-long voyage around the world in 1990-91.
The New York Times Book Review called Mo “the biggest new talent to emerge thus far in the 00's."
Mo’s work books have been translated into a myriad of languages, spawned animated shorts and theatrical musical productions, and his illustrations, wire sculpture, and carved ceramics have been exhibited in galleries and museums across the nation.
Mo began his career as a writer and animator for television, garnering 6 Emmy awards for his writing on Sesame Street, creating Nickelodeon's The Off-Beats, Cartoon Network’s Sheep in the Big City and head-writing Codename: Kids Next Door.
He lives in Brooklyn, New York with his family.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 379 reviews
October 8, 2020
Couldn't contain my pleasure at revisiting this great children's book series.
I Will Surprise My Friend! has descriptive illustrations at each page showcasing the activities of the characters.
Nice and easy 4 stars!
I Will Surprise My Friend! has descriptive illustrations at each page showcasing the activities of the characters.
Nice and easy 4 stars!
January 29, 2019
Piggie and Gerald will try to surprise one another for fun.
They will realize that maybe they can find better games to place since in the end they are less entertained than they thought they would be.
Funny and cute story.
They will realize that maybe they can find better games to place since in the end they are less entertained than they thought they would be.
Funny and cute story.
June 7, 2018
Lindo y divertido, como siempre con Mo Willems.
Octavo libro que leo de esta serie y apenas me entero que piggie es hembra.
Octavo libro que leo de esta serie y apenas me entero que piggie es hembra.
July 16, 2018
Another wonderful Elephant and Piggie book has this duo finding new and exciting ways entertain one another. Piggie and Gerald each want to surprise the other. They spend some time plotting out their ideas and try to catch the other unawares. However, when becoming so tunnel-visioned, it is easy to lose sight of the larger picture and sometimes things get turned around. Neo laughed, as he loves surprises and leaping out from doorways. He admits that sometimes it is fun to surprise others, but when it is done to you, it can have the opposite effect. I’ll try not to lurk in shadows and pop out at the most inconvenient times, though planning for it can be fun.
October 10, 2022
استثنائا عنوان فارسی این جلد رو دوس دارم 😁 "غافلگیربازی". اگر دیالوگهاش رو با لحن درست و بالا پایینهای به جا بخونیدش بچهها کلی باهاش میخندن
May 16, 2010
Early readers can be such a pain. They have to be easy to read, so they include a lot of very short, repetitititive sentences. I bet you can quote Dick and Jane here: See Spot. See Spot run. Run, Spot, run! Run, run, run! Short, easy to read, lots of practice with those three words... and boring as HECK. Who wants to read that more than once?
Or they do the same thing, but with rhyming: See the cat. The cat is fat. The fat cat sat. Sat on the mat. The fat cat sat on the mat. See the rat!
Ye gods. Now your kid will always be able to read -at words, but they'll read them all in a dreadful monotone, ill-suited for anything other than the phone book. Gotta indoctrinate them young to think reading is dull and boring!
Well, there is hope. Elephant and Piggie! This series does everything right.
First of all, the text is all dialog. Exciting, funny dialog with LOTS AND LOTS OF EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!! Ever see a first grader write? EVERY! SENTENCE! NEEDS! AN! EXCLAMATION! POINT!!!! YES IT DOES! You can't help but ham it up when you read, no matter HOW much you hate reading.
And when there is repetition - as there needs to be, to help children practice - it's natural. Piggie will say something, and then Elephant will repeat it in a disbelieving way. Or Elephant will say something and Piggie will repeat it to agree with him. (Doesn't happen much in this one.)
Secondly, the pictures are active and engaging and funny and dramatic. Not much distracting detail, either. But while the pictures are so active and engaging and funny and dramatic, they provide a LITTLE bit of help to the shaky reader... but not so much that they think they can look at the picture and not bother with those troublesome words.
Thirdly, the books are just interesting. When you're learning something now, you have to do it more than once. It's good for kids to re-read the same books over and over again... and I'm sure it saves the teacher money on stocking her classroom shelves! But what child, honestly, wants to read a beginning reader again? It's boring! They read it once, are you happy? Now they want to get to the good stuff!
I promise you, kids will want to read these books over and over again. I don't know through educational experience, no... but I know through watching my own two nieces. I know through looking at adults eagerly picking up these books to read. Adults! There's just something about them.
My favorite part of this book? Has to be comparing Gerald's visions of what might have happened to Piggie (gotten lost and fallen off a cliff, gotten snatched by a huge bird, gotten eaten by a monster) with Piggie's visions of what might have happened to Gerald (gone to eat lunch).
Or they do the same thing, but with rhyming: See the cat. The cat is fat. The fat cat sat. Sat on the mat. The fat cat sat on the mat. See the rat!
Ye gods. Now your kid will always be able to read -at words, but they'll read them all in a dreadful monotone, ill-suited for anything other than the phone book. Gotta indoctrinate them young to think reading is dull and boring!
Well, there is hope. Elephant and Piggie! This series does everything right.
First of all, the text is all dialog. Exciting, funny dialog with LOTS AND LOTS OF EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!! Ever see a first grader write? EVERY! SENTENCE! NEEDS! AN! EXCLAMATION! POINT!!!! YES IT DOES! You can't help but ham it up when you read, no matter HOW much you hate reading.
And when there is repetition - as there needs to be, to help children practice - it's natural. Piggie will say something, and then Elephant will repeat it in a disbelieving way. Or Elephant will say something and Piggie will repeat it to agree with him. (Doesn't happen much in this one.)
Secondly, the pictures are active and engaging and funny and dramatic. Not much distracting detail, either. But while the pictures are so active and engaging and funny and dramatic, they provide a LITTLE bit of help to the shaky reader... but not so much that they think they can look at the picture and not bother with those troublesome words.
Thirdly, the books are just interesting. When you're learning something now, you have to do it more than once. It's good for kids to re-read the same books over and over again... and I'm sure it saves the teacher money on stocking her classroom shelves! But what child, honestly, wants to read a beginning reader again? It's boring! They read it once, are you happy? Now they want to get to the good stuff!
I promise you, kids will want to read these books over and over again. I don't know through educational experience, no... but I know through watching my own two nieces. I know through looking at adults eagerly picking up these books to read. Adults! There's just something about them.
My favorite part of this book? Has to be comparing Gerald's visions of what might have happened to Piggie (gotten lost and fallen off a cliff, gotten snatched by a huge bird, gotten eaten by a monster) with Piggie's visions of what might have happened to Gerald (gone to eat lunch).
August 19, 2019
عنوان ترجمه فارسی: غافلگیربازی!
(داستان های فیلی و فیگی-5)
(داستان های فیلی و فیگی-5)
November 7, 2022
This one made me lose it during storytime lol. (Made the kids lose it too, which is always my goal.)
March 17, 2017
Hilarious!!!
June 2, 2017
It was very cute.
October 8, 2021
Like frog and toad, but totally different.
February 27, 2024
A welcome respite from our current favorites.
November 17, 2017
So funny! Cute story about Piggy and Elephant trying to surprise each other. Neat twist near the end of the story. I laughed out loud. Highly recommended Gr. K-1.
December 22, 2025
خیلی بامزه.
January 28, 2021
Jack and Ryan love this book ❤️ We read it over and over, day after day.
November 15, 2009
Pre-K- Kindergarten
Willems uses repetition on each page with the elephant and the pig doing different activities. The is a lot of negative space on each page and with the end pages there are squirrels in the front of the book and also the back of the book. There are very few words on each page as well as lots of repetition with the text. This book will capture the attention of many younger readers because they will feel successful when being able to read this book. The books seems long, but only because there are so few words so once a smaller child finishes the book they will feel as though they have accomplished something big. Children can relate to this book because I am sure there is a time in all children's lives where they were scared because they were either lost or all alone. I think that children can find this book as a way to help deal with some of those emotions.
Language Arts/ Social Emotional
I would ask the children to tell me why the two friends were worried and why we should not hide from our friends.
Willems uses repetition on each page with the elephant and the pig doing different activities. The is a lot of negative space on each page and with the end pages there are squirrels in the front of the book and also the back of the book. There are very few words on each page as well as lots of repetition with the text. This book will capture the attention of many younger readers because they will feel successful when being able to read this book. The books seems long, but only because there are so few words so once a smaller child finishes the book they will feel as though they have accomplished something big. Children can relate to this book because I am sure there is a time in all children's lives where they were scared because they were either lost or all alone. I think that children can find this book as a way to help deal with some of those emotions.
Language Arts/ Social Emotional
I would ask the children to tell me why the two friends were worried and why we should not hide from our friends.
Read
May 17, 2010Elephant and Piggie witness two squirrel buddies having the time of their lives by jumping out from behind a rock and surprising each other. It looks like such fun, that Elephant and Piggie decide to play the same game. It’s no surprise that their game plan goes awry and Elephant imagines that some disaster has befallen Piggie, while Piggie assumes that Gerald has gone for lunch. When they finally find each other again they are so surprised, they decide it’s better to play a different game.
Before I start reviewing, I’ll admit that I’m hopelessly fond of the Elephant and Piggie books. In general, they are simple, silly and fun. This one is no exception. I was kept in suspense as Elephant and Piggie look for each other, and had I been six, I would have fallen on the floor laughing when they finally find each other again. The illustrations are simply colored line drawings and the text is made up entirely of dialogue. These simple stories are great for acting out and are sure to put a smile on your face.
Before I start reviewing, I’ll admit that I’m hopelessly fond of the Elephant and Piggie books. In general, they are simple, silly and fun. This one is no exception. I was kept in suspense as Elephant and Piggie look for each other, and had I been six, I would have fallen on the floor laughing when they finally find each other again. The illustrations are simply colored line drawings and the text is made up entirely of dialogue. These simple stories are great for acting out and are sure to put a smile on your face.
July 9, 2008
I LOVE MO WILLEMS!! I hope he keeps writing these things for a good long time. The only reason that this gets 4 1/2 stars rather than 5 from me is that it wasn't that funny at all when I read it to myself. When my younger son and I performed it dramatically, it became uproariously funny! My co-worker, Anina, and I did a dramatic reading of this at storytime. Adults and kids all laughed, but I think they also thought we were a little weird (which doesn't bother me at all, and didn't seem to bother Anina either). It was very silly, but A LOT of fun!
October 6, 2010
Man, we love Mo Willems. He can infuse so much emotion into such simple drawings - the facial expressions of Piggie & Gerald just kill me and the kids when we are reading these. There is so much humor even with minimal dialogue and drawings. It's awesome.
Seriously, Mo Willems, who are you? Can we be best friends?
Seriously, Mo Willems, who are you? Can we be best friends?
February 19, 2024
JJulianna read this book to me today that she chose from her school library. I helped her with a few words. She and I enjoyed this cute book. She gave it 5 stars.
2/19/24 Julianna is a great reader. She reread this one. She loves Elephant & Piggy Books & so do I. Funny cute stories.
2/19/24 Julianna is a great reader. She reread this one. She loves Elephant & Piggy Books & so do I. Funny cute stories.
February 19, 2009
This is the best Elephant and Piggie book, hands down. I also am realizing that I might secretly be the Elephant.
October 15, 2009
The only thing you need to do right now is go and find this book. It is So GOOD that it will make you laugh on a really down day. It is fighting first place against other books in this series.
April 20, 2010
OOh!! this one is a FAVORITE!!
it's when Elephant and Piggie decide to surprise each other XD
it's when Elephant and Piggie decide to surprise each other XD
July 24, 2015
page 46 is just the bomb. Angus could not contain himself.
February 2, 2016
Ha Ha! Once again, they crack me up!
October 10, 2016
So funny! I loved it!
April 27, 2019
Elephant & Piggie attempt to surprise one another.
Complications and well, surprises ensue.
Complications and well, surprises ensue.
September 15, 2020
This is my absolute favorite Mo Willem’s book EVER!!!
August 4, 2021
Leu em português, Alfaguara.
December 18, 2024
My favorite of the Elephant and Piggie books, but they're all great.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 379 reviews