Picture Books Mo Willems Part II

Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems


The first book in Mo Willems award winning pigeon series, Don’t let the Pigeon Drive the Bus is full of personality and character. Willems has always had a gift for conveying characters in a brief amount of text. In this short little book the illustration and text work together to bring to life a character screaming with personality. You will laugh and be charmed by the dramatic and true to life tantrum this little bird throws when he is not allowed to get his way.

Don’t let the Pigeon Stay Up Late by Mo Willems

This installment of Willems series is just as charming as the first. The pigeon needs to go to bed, but of course he doesn’t want to. His personality shines as he tried to wheedle his way out of heading off for bed, but ends up exhausting himself in the process. Turns out that even energetic and dramatic pigeons need some rest.

The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog by Mo Willems

In this cute little tale the Pigeon finds a delicious treat, and a soft heart. In this tale his is joined by a small, naive, and inquisitive chick companion. When he finds a delicious hot dog he finds that the best treats are shared with friends. This is a cute little story everyone in the family will enjoy.

The Pigeon Wants a Puppy by Mo Willems

My personal favorite of the Pigeon series in The Pigeon Wants a Puppy, Pigeon tells us all he knows about puppies, which to the astute reader is not very much. He longs for and dreams about a puppy until he meets one on the street on day and discovers that Puppies aren’t everything he imagined.

I loved these books the art was so simple and yet so expressive, and the character of the pigeon so well drawn and entertaining that you couldn’t help but like his dramatic and expressive personality. When I had to turn these books back into the library I was so sad! They are fun to reread and were short and funny. These will end up in my library one day.

Picture Books: Mo Willems

Picture books: Mo Willems

Knuffle Bunny

Trixie loses her favorite animal. She and her father must rush across the city to save it.

This is a charming little picture book. The illustrations consist of black and white photos of the city, while the Trixie and her family are illustrated in cartoon. At the end of this book you’ll love Trixie, her parents, and her beloved stuffed animal Knuffle bunny.

Knuffle Bunny Too

Trixie discovers that she is not the only one that owns a Knuffle Bunny. She goes to school and finds that another one of the girls in the class also owns a Knuffle Bunny. The two then proceed to try and show each other up. The teacher confiscates both Knuffle Bunnies and returns them at the end of the school day. Trixie wakes up in the middle of the night only to realize that she has the wrong Knuffle Bunny. Something must be done!

This story is also similar to the first book. Cute and charming and full of humorous and sympathetic characters. My favorite illustration is the frazzled looks on the dad’s faces at the end of the book. What a father won’t do to keep his little girl happy.

Knuffle Bunny Free

Trixie’s family is on their way to visit the grandparents. On the way there the unthinkable occurs. Trixie loses Knuffle Bunny on the plane. Her dad tries to call the airline, but nothing can be done. Knuffle Bunny is gone. Can Trixie learn to live without her dearest Knuffle Bunny?

So the Knuffle Bunny saga continues. I think it is fun to read a series of picture book stories where the character stays the same but continues to grow older in them. I think it is interesting for children to see characters in the book grow up like them. This one is longer and more complex than the other two bookd probably to correspond with the age of the Trixie.

City Dog, Country Frog (favorite of the week)

City Dog goes to the country and meets a new friend—country frog. This tale of friendship and change has gorgeous watercolor illustrations. I loved to read this one to my little one so she could see all the green rolling hills and the cute friendship between frog and dog. We get to watch them play together during the different seasons of the year.

Edwina: the dinosaur who didn’t know she was extinct.

Everyone in the Neighborhood loves Edwina the Dinosaur. She is always willing to help out and bake cookies. Only Reginald Von Hoobie Doobie is grumpy about this fact because dinosaurs are supposed to be extinct. He tries to tell everyone this but nobody listens.

I found this little story humorous, as Reginald gets more and more frustrated about people not listening to him. He is quite the dramatic little fellow. I also liked Edwina the service-oriented dinosaur. If only there were more Edwina’s around the world would be a better place.

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