WWRW: An Ode to Mo

Way way back many centuries ago... okay more like 2006, Husband and I went shopping at Barnes and Noble. I think, like anyone with eyes, it was really more accurately "spend an hour browsing and end up with more than you expected and maybe even justify your sudden new finds by not getting the thing we came for which was really more of a splurge than this book we HAVE to HAVE." Or are we alone in that Barnes and Noble disease?

We were still in college then. Husband as a graphic design major has a very specific style that spoke to him. I think most designers do. (I wonder if any other wives of graphic designers have adopted their husbands design style in their heads as "good" like I have?) And as we were browsing I happened across a book and it overwhelmed me.

It had the right design elements. It was smart. It was a little snarky. And it was funny. It was also for children. Don't get me wrong--we LOVE children's books. I just couldn't justify buying them. But for Christmas or my birthday or some other gift giving holiday there it was.

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. Oh that Mo Willems. How I love that Pigeon. Over the next year or so we managed to collect them all. It became our thing so much that Husband wound up getting permission from Mo's publisher to use:

The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog for his first partner scene at ACTF. (Long story, not relevant.) And my mom bought us Pigeon shirts for Christmas. 

We are at that ACTF here, young, goofy and ridiculous.
You can see a smidgeon of the pigeon on my shirt.

So it's really no wonder to me at all that C is OBSESSED with Pigeon. We have most of them. We had them all but somewhere Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late were misplaced. Which is really sad because "The Bus" had a very sweet inscription in it from Husband. But don't worry. They are coming back to us again at home this Christmas. Joining their friends. 

This is C's most favorite currently.

C loves Pigeon SO much that 90% of the time they are up on a high shelf because they would be the ONLY books he would read and we don't want him to damage them. Luckily we also have the 2 board book Pigeons and those stay in rotation all the time. He loves them. They are also VERY easy to memorize so reading them from the front seat while he turns the pages is a breeze. 

One of the board books. 

The other board book. See how they say a smigeon of pigeon?
That's too good a line for me to have come up with.

 But our love for Mo doesn't end there. We have some Elephant and Piggy books as well as Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed. Which is a delightful book. Witty and fun.

We've read the Knuffle Bunny books but up until now they have just been library books. So imagine my joy when I noticed the other day what was available for presale? 

It's due out in April. Which is Husband's birthday month. I am sure you can't guess what he's getting. 

Mo captures everything I need in a picture book. There are a lot of inane books out there, books I know I loved as a child but that are not as much fun for the adult to read. But these books, are enjoyable for C and fun for Husband and I to read aloud. Pigeon is SUCH a fun character, he's basically a big toddler. For the most part he learns lesson in each book as well. There are a lot of little details in the utter simplicity of Pigeon's illustrations too. It's just great. 

Pigeon is also REALLY easy to draw if you wanted to make up your own coloring sheets. We just did that yesterday in fact. But we have done it before. I was watching a segment of Mo on the Today show a few months ago. (Maybe longer than a few...) He and his family sit down every night before bed time and have a family coloring/drawing session. They buy butcher block paper and spread it over the table and they all draw and color while talking about life, their days and interesting topics. I just really liked that idea. 

Anyhow, we love Mo Willems. We love Pigeon. He is highly recommended by me for anyone. Linking up with Jessica for What We're Reading Wednesday.