Greg Pizzoli
If your reader is a fan of the “Elephant and Piggie” books by Mo Willems there is a good chance they’ll like “Baloney and Friends” as well. These graphic novels for the younger kids, preschool through first graders, are enjoyable for all. In “Baloney and Friends Going Up!” We follow the same characters as in the first book in this series. There’s Bizz the bee, Krabbit, the very grumpy rabbit, and then affable Peanut the Horse and playful Baloney the pig. Friendship rules between them as they create their own theme song. When they have a sleepover, young readers will be delighted to find out the answer to the mystery of Baloney’s missing sneeze. Here’s a hint:
As well as Pizzoli’s language being just right and the exact length for these early readers, his illustrations have a pleasant soft color range. For budding graphic artists he adds, “Drawing Tips” at the end which explore the range of emotions of his characters. All in all a nice addition for this age group.