Elephant and Piggie is a book series for early readers by Mo Willems

Mo Willems

Mo Willems is an American writer, animator, and children's books author/illustrator.-Early life:Willems was raised in New Orleans, where he graduated from Trinity Episcopal School and the Isidore Newman School. He graduated cum laude from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. He married...

. The series, which debuted in 2007 with two books, is done in a comic book

Comic book

A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

 style, and features two friends: an elephant

Elephant

Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...

, Gerald, and a pig

Pig

A pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...

, Piggie. The books are written in conversational style with Piggie's words appearing in pink letter bubbles and Gerald's appearing in grey letter bubbles. The books often address issues of friendship. Books are added to the series on a roughly quarterly schedule, with two books occasionally released on the same day. There is a Bird on Your Head and Are You Ready To Play Outside? won the Geisel Medal

Geisel Award

Established in 2004, the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award is given annually to the author and illustrator of the most distinguished American book for beginning readers published in English in the United States during the preceding year. The winner receive a bronze medal at the ALA Annual Conference...

 in 2008 and 2009. Two books in the series have been listed on Time

Time (magazine)

Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...

magazine's Top 10 Children's Books of the Year: Today I Will Fly in 2007 (ranked #2) and Elephants Cannot Dance! in 2009 (ranked #5).

Books

• 1 Today I Will Fly! (Mar 2007)
• 2 My Friend is Sad (Mar 2007)
• 3 There is a Bird on Your Head! (Jul 2007)
• 4 I Am Invited to a Party! (Jul 2007)
• 5 I Love My New Toy! (Jun 2008)
• 6 I Will Surprise My Friend! (Jun 2008)
• 7 Are You Ready To Play Outside? (Oct 2008)
• 8 Watch Me Throw The Ball! (Mar 2009)
• 9 Elephants Cannot Dance! (Jun 2009)
• 10 Pigs Make Me Sneeze! (Oct 2009)
• 11 I am Going! (Jan 2010)
• 12 Can I Play Too? (Jun 2010)
• 13 We Are In A Book! (Sept 2010)
• 14 I Broke My Trunk! (Feb 2011)
• 15 Should I Share My Ice Cream? (June 2011)
• 16 Happy Pig Day! (Oct 2011)
• 17 Listen To My Trumpet (Feb 2012)

Trivia

• Pigeon
  Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!
  Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! is a children's picture book by Mo Willems. Released by Hyperion Press in 2003, it was Willems' first book for children, and received the Caldecott Honor. The plot is about a bus driver who has to leave so he asks the reader to watch the Pigeon. The pigeon tries...
  
  , another series and character by Mo Willems
  Mo Willems
  Mo Willems is an American writer, animator, and children's books author/illustrator.-Early life:Willems was raised in New Orleans, where he graduated from Trinity Episcopal School and the Isidore Newman School. He graduated cum laude from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. He married...
  
  , is hidden on the inside back cover of each Elephant and Piggie book.