A Big Guy Took My Ball! by Mo Willems

Willems, M. (2013). A big guy took my ball! New York, NY: Hyperion Books for Children

Piggie and Gerald are at it again in this fantastic story. Someone has stolen Piggie's ball and she goes to Gerald for help. She blames Whale and to both of their surprise, the ball belonged to Whale to begin with. Piggie and Gerald both judged Whale by saying, "All the big guys have all the fun." Whale judged Piggie by saying, "All the little guys have all the fun." In the end neither of them was having fun because they didn't have anyone to play with. A beautiful lesson is learned in this story. It's not right to judge people because of their size or any other characteristic. They end up sharing and playing with the ball together.

If you liked this book you may continue reading more of Gerald's and Piggie's adventures by reading these books: 

Willems, M. (2012). Let’s go for a drive! New York, NY: Hyperion Books for Children.

In this story Piggie and Gerald want to go for a drive. Gerald tells Piggie they can’t go without a map and Piggie says he has a map so Gerald sends him to get it. Then Gerald tells Piggie they need sunglasses in case it might be sunny. Piggie sets off to get the sunglasses. He also says they need umbrellas in case it rains. Piggie gets the umbrellas. Gerald realizes they have a lot of stuff to pack so he sends Piggie to get bags since Piggie says he has bags. Gerald realizes they are ready for their drive, but neither one has a car. Piggie suggest they play “pirate” and they do. 

Willems, M. (2011). I broke my trunk! New York, NY: Hyperion Books for Children.

This story is about Gerald the elephant and his best friend, Piggie. Piggie wants to know how Gerald broke his trunk. Gerald starts by telling Piggie he carried Hippo on his trunk, he also carried Rhino, Hippo’s sister and her piano, but that’s not how he broke his trunk. Piggie desperately asks him how is it that he broke his trunk if it wasn’t by the weight of the animals he carried. Gerald finally tells Piggie he fell as he was running to tell his best friend Piggie the crazy story. Then Piggie ran to tell Gerald’s crazy story to someone else and he falls and breaks his snout.