Mo Willems

 Biographical Information 

Mo Willems was born February, 11 1968. He was born in Des Plaines, Illinois, but his family moved to New Orleans shortly after. As a child, he loved to draw cartoons and started developing his own characters. His characters even kept him out of trouble with the class bully! In an interview with [https://www.cbsnews.com/news/for-kids-book-author-mo-willems-childhood-is-an-awful-time/#:~:text=As%20for%20Willems'%20own%20childhood,d%20show%20it%20to%20him. CBS News], Willems shared, "In second grade the class bully would not tease me or bully me if I had a gag. So I had a daily strip in second grade. Just come up with a little gag, and I'd show it to him. And if he laughed, then I was off the hook for the day." Willems’ love of art brought him to New York City where he attended New York University, receiving his bachelor's degree in fine arts from the Tisch School of Art. After graduating, Willems took a yearlong trip around the world drawing a cartoon per day. He compiled his drawings into a book - You Can Never Find A Rickshaw When it Monsoons. Willems then went on to work on the beloved children’s tv show, Sesame Street as a writer and animator. Mo Willems won six Emmys during his time at Sesame Street from 1993 to 2002. He also  worked on two series for Cartoon Network, Sheep in the Big City and Codename: Kids Next Door and The Off-Beats.

During this time, Mo Willems was also writing and illustrating children’s books. His books however, were rejected. After about five years of rejection, a doodle of a pigeon caught the eye of an editor. This pigeon became the main character of Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, Mo Willems’ first book, which received the Caldecott Honor. Since then, Mo Willems has become a beloved and cherished children’s author and illustrator. He has written and illustrated award winning books and series, like  Elephant and Piggie, Knuffle Bunny and Leandro. His books have been translated into many languages, can be seen as exhibits at museums and have been turned into plays and musicals.

Currently, Mo Willems is the Kennedy Center Artist in Residence. He is actually the first education artist-in-residence! Due to Covid-19 and the closure of the Kennedy Center, Willems created a series of virtual drawing classes for children called Lunch Doodles. Mo Willems has had an impressive career thus far, but luckily to his young fans, he doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon.

 Themes 

Any young child who knows Mo Willems, will you tell you that his books are funny. Silliness is woven throughout his books from the titles to the characters. However, the sillines is not just for the kids, it’s for the adults too. In an interview with Edutopia, Willems explains his take on sillines. “I think with the grown-ups what I’m trying to do is encourage a full shame-ectomy. Embarrassment is a learned disease that begins to manifest itself in early adolescence. By adulthood, it can have ossified your entire spirit. A saving grace of having kids is that for the first time—in maybe a very long time—there’s permission to be silly. I encourage that.” His books are more than just silly though. He writes books with topics that he finds interesting or topics that he’s still learning about even as an adult. These topics range from love, jealousy, friendship, perseverance to patience.

 Style Willems is often quoted saying, “I only write 49 percent of the book and the audience puts in the rest.” For this reason, his writing style can be seen as simplistic. He believes that the less on the page, encourages the reader to be more interactive and a part of the story. Mo Willems' writing is known for the use of speech/thought bubbles, onomatopoeia and bold print (pop out words). Many of his illustrations, characters like Elephant and Piggie, are described as simple as well. While the outline of the characters are relatively simple in shape, the facial expression and gestures are detailed, which bring the characters and stories to life. Fans of Willems know to look for the Pigeon character hiding in the background throughout his other books. An example of his silly nature.

 Criticism 

Mo Willems is an author and illustrator who is simply adored by children, adults and critics. It is hard to find criticism on him or any of his work. Even scrolling through amazon reviews, it is clear that his work is cherished. Although there are reviews of certain books being too short, or just ok or not as great as the first book. This hardly seems like criticism and more opinion or personal preference.

 Bibliography 

A complete list of Mo Willems published books can be found here.

Mo Willems Awards and Honors:

- Six Emmy Awards from 1995-2001 for writer and animator on Sesame Street

- Numerous ASIFA-East Awards for "Suzie Kabloozie" on Sesame Street.

- Three Caldecott Honor Awards

* Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! (2004)

* Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale (2005)

* Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity (2008)

- Time Magazine's 10 Best Children's Books for 2005

* Leanardo, the Terrible Monster

- Book Sense Book of the Year Honor Book in 2006

* Leanardo, the Terrible Monster

- Two Carnegie Medals for animated versions of books

* Knuffle Bunny (2007)

* Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! (2010)

- Three Theodor Seuss Geisel Awards

* There Is a Bird on Your Head (2008 Winner)

* Are You Ready to Play Outside? (2009 Winner)

* We Are in a Book! (2011 Honor)

- NAPPA Award Winner for animated version of book

* Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! (2010 Gold Winner)

 Additional Websites/Information 

http://pigeonpresents.com/

http://mowillems.com/

 References 

1. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/for-kids-book-author-mo-willems-childhood-is-an-awful-time/#:~:text=As%20for%20Willems'%20own%20childhood,d%20show%20it%20to%20him.

2. https://www.kennedy-center.org/video/center/families--young-audiences/2019/mo-willems-the-kennedy-centers-first-education-artist-in-residence/

3. https://www.kennedy-center.org/video/center/families--young-audiences/2019/mo-willems-the-kennedy-centers-first-education-artist-in-residence/

4. https://www.edutopia.org/article/mo-willems-lost-art-being-silly?fbclid=IwAR08-qkmaWNhBx2yXcWA1zRpihLRah1HPbecQRi0CBtVRp9dYEVraaVdKCo

5. http://pigeonpresents.com/

6. http://mowillems.com/