Mo Willems
Midterm Paper: Mo Willems
Searching through the rows of picture books on the library shelves, I was caught by the gaze of a stick-figured pigeon. Initially I had another illustrator in mind, however the pigeon had me transfixed and I had to write about Mo Willems. Amazingly, the same pigeon also caught the eye of an editor after numerous rejections for five years and helped Mo Willems publish his first picture book, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! (Hume, 2008). Mo Willems is significant to the field of children’s literature because his experience in this subject is unparalleled. For nine years he was a writer and animator for Sesame Street and won six Emmy awards for his works on the show (Patton, 2006). The animated television series Sheep in the Big City and The Off-Beats were also his creations as well as being the head writer for Cartoon Network’s Codename: Kids Next Door. (Net Industries, 2008). Even “The New York Times heralded Mo Willems as the biggest talent to emerge in children’s books in the ‘00s.” (Patton, 2006) The two books I chose was the one already mentioned and Edwina: The dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct. Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! has won numerous awards: Booklist Editors’ Choice 2003, Caldecott Honour Books 2004, Theodor Seuss Geisel Award and Notable Children’s Books 2004 etc. (Engberg, 2003). I chose to use these two books because both show the simplistic approaches Willems uses for his art in almost a child-like way. One work has garnered much attention whilst the other is less popular, yet both stories have similar humorous enjoyable themes that is easily recognizable for all ages. In this paper, I argue that Mo Willems illustrations using mediums of crayons, pencils and felts, and using the most elementary methods of drawings to portray his stories captures the essence of childhood. I will draw upon his history of works, analyze his style and themes as well as do a case-study on his first picture book, Don’t Let
Searching through the rows of picture books on the library shelves, I was caught by the gaze of a stick-figured pigeon. Initially I had another illustrator in mind, however the pigeon had me transfixed and I had to write about Mo Willems. Amazingly, the same pigeon also caught the eye of an editor after numerous rejections for five years and helped Mo Willems publish his first picture book, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! (Hume, 2008). Mo Willems is significant to the field of children’s literature because his experience in this subject is unparalleled. For nine years he was a writer and animator for Sesame Street and won six Emmy awards for his works on the show (Patton, 2006). The animated television series Sheep in the Big City and The Off-Beats were also his creations as well as being the head writer for Cartoon Network’s Codename: Kids Next Door. (Net Industries, 2008). Even “The New York Times heralded Mo Willems as the biggest talent to emerge in children’s books in the ‘00s.” (Patton, 2006) The two books I chose was the one already mentioned and Edwina: The dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct. Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! has won numerous awards: Booklist Editors’ Choice 2003, Caldecott Honour Books 2004, Theodor Seuss Geisel Award and Notable Children’s Books 2004 etc. (Engberg, 2003). I chose to use these two books because both show the simplistic approaches Willems uses for his art in almost a child-like way. One work has garnered much attention whilst the other is less popular, yet both stories have similar humorous enjoyable themes that is easily recognizable for all ages. In this paper, I argue that Mo Willems illustrations using mediums of crayons, pencils and felts, and using the most elementary methods of drawings to portray his stories captures the essence of childhood. I will draw upon his history of works, analyze his style and themes as well as do a case-study on his first picture book, Don’t Let