Picture Book of the Day:  The Sustained Excellence of Elephant and Piggie, written and illustrated by Mo Willems

This past year I had major storytime success with Mo Willems' latest Elephant & Piggie book, Let's Go for a Drive!.  Children love watching these two beloved characters enthusiastically make plans to go on a drive, joining in on such lines as "drive drive drivey drive drive".  It's amazing how much comical emotion Willems brings to these spare drawings (no backgrounds), and how the author can tell such intricate stories with so few words.  And the comic timing, ooh the comic timing...just perfect.  The way Piggie zips off the page to retrieve items and Elephant then addresses the viewer in an understated fashion about why the items are required for a drive tickles the funny bone.  The way the characters look at each other when a surprise announcement fills the air delights.  Willems keeps finding new hilarious adventures for these friends--it's quite a feat that the author manages to make their adventures so fresh and fun.  What's wonderful too is even after all the drama (a broken toy in one book, a hide and seek game gone wrong in another), that Elephant & Piggie realize that friendship prevails.