Teaching Kids About Patience in Steve Antony’s “I’ll Wait, Mr. Panda”

Fats here.

I’ll Wait, Mr. Panda

Written and illustrated by Steve Antony
Published by Scholastic Press (2016)
ISBN-10: 1444916661
ISBN-13: 978-1444916669
Copy borrowed from the Wayne County Public Library.

I found this book while doing the pull list this morning. The pull list consists of our library materials that patrons from other libraries have requested. We try to get this done first thing in the morning, a couple of hours before we open. Something about pandas made me take the book home with me today.

Minimalist in style, I’ll Wait, Mr. Panda is the sequel to Steve Antony’s Please, Mr. Panda (which I have yet to read). In this book, Mr. Panda is shown holding a bowl and a spoon. He is planning a surprise. Mr. Panda’s animal friends are curious and very eager to find out what Mr. Panda is up to. However, Mr. Panda tells them to wait and see.

None of the animals are willing to wait. They think waiting is boring. And hard. They would rather not wait than die trying. (Maybe that’s a bit much but, really, they do not like waiting.) Everyone leaves except a little penguin, who assures Mr. Panda that he will wait. Well, you know what they say about waiting, right? (Good things come to those who wait. Our penguin friend will learn this in the end.)

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Speaking of waiting, here’s a really awesome book about waiting: Waiting is Not Easy by Mo Willems! If you like the Elephant and Piggie series, then you will love this book! I was lucky to buy a signed copy during Barnes & Noble’s Black Friday sale last year. (B&N started selling signed copies on Friday and I waited until Saturday afternoon because it was the only time I could go.)

Waiting is Not Easy by Mo Willems

ISBN-10: 142319957X
ISBN-13: 978-1423199571