Waiting Is Not Easy!
Waiting Is Not Easy! by Mo Willems takes about 2 minutes to read aloud (197 words, about 1 sentence a page), and it lands best with children aged 3-6.
Measured read-aloud timeabout 2 minutes
- Words
- 197
- Sentences a page
- 1
- Re-read tolerance
- 5/5still fine on the fortieth reading
- Vocabulary
- 1/5plain words
Check Waiting Is Not Easy! on AmazonAffiliate link
The useful verdict
Why Waiting Is Not Easy! works
Gerald's 'GROAN!' gets bigger on every page until it fills the spread, so a child who cannot yet read still knows exactly how loud to be - and the wordless starfield payoff at the end lands even when they have seen it before.
Themes: patience, friendship, night sky, humour.
Same shape, new story
Books like Waiting Is Not Easy!
Matched by length, refrain, sentence density, and listener—not just subject.
There Is a Bird on Your Head!about 2 minutes · 5/5 re-read
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!about 1.5 minutes · 5/5 re-read
Grumpy Monkeyabout 4.5 minutes · 4/5 re-read
Frog and Toad Are Friendsabout 20.5 minutes · 4/5 re-read
Go, Dog. Go!about 4.5 minutes · 4/5 re-read
We Are in a Book!about 2.5 minutes · 5/5 re-read
The Very Impatient Caterpillarabout 3.5 minutes · 4/5 re-read
Jabari Jumpsabout 4 minutes · 4/5 re-read
Bilal Cooks Daalabout 6 minutes · 3/5 re-read
Straight answers
Questions parents ask about Waiting Is Not Easy!
- How long does it take to read Waiting Is Not Easy! aloud?
- About 2 minutes at an unhurried pace, from a word count of 197. Reading it fast shaves perhaps a third off; stopping for questions on every page can double it.
- What age is Waiting Is Not Easy! actually for?
- Ages 3-6 in our testing, which is narrower than the publisher's range. With 1 sentence a page and vocabulary at 1 out of 5, it asks for that much attention span and no more.
- Does Waiting Is Not Easy! survive being read on repeat?
- Yes - this is one of the few that is still fine on the fortieth reading, which is why it scores 5 out of 5 with us.
- Is Waiting Is Not Easy! a good book for a child who will not sit still?
- It helps that it has a refrain a child can join in with. Those three features are what keep a wriggling toddler listening, far more than the subject matter does.
- Will my child memorise Waiting Is Not Easy!?
- Probably, and fast. The book leans on a repeated refrain, and at 5 out of 5 for re-read tolerance it survives the nightly repeats that get a book memorised. Expect your child to chant the pattern back before they can actually read.
- Can a beginning reader read Waiting Is Not Easy! on their own?
- It is closer than most picture books. With 1 sentence a page and plain vocabulary (1 out of 5), a confident early reader can attempt it, though it is written to be read aloud first.
- Is Waiting Is Not Easy! part of a series?
- Yes, it belongs to the Elephant & Piggie series. It stands on its own, so you can start here without reading the others in order, then move to the rest if it lands.
- What themes does Waiting Is Not Easy! cover?
- We tag it with patience, friendship, night sky and humour. Those are the threads that actually run through the book, not just the ones on the cover, which is how it earns its place on our themed lists rather than a keyword match.