Mo Willems, Mo Love!

For the last two weeks, Peanut has been coming home and talking nonstop about all the Mo Willems books he has been reading at school. It started with Pigeon books. He was super excited to tell me that they read a Pigeon book at school and then he talked about Elephant and Piggie and Knuffle Bunny and Cat the Cat. I have loved talking to him about so many books that we love at school that they have been celebrating at school. 

We love Mo Willems at our house. Seriously love him. Actually, I think if you took an inventory of the books in our house, we probably have more Mo Willems books compared to any other author. I thought I would ask Peanut to tell me about the books he has read lately and what he thinks about them and share with you today. 

Peanut: It's funny because he said, "Well, I thought he'd never leave!"

After that part, he said, "Can I drive the bus?"

Peanut: When he jumped and saw the dog, I like that part.

Peanut: I like the duckling. I like it when she said, "Would you say it tastes like chicken?" 

I also like when he said, "Can you believe this guy?" about the duckling. 

He had fun playing with little Pigeon and Duckling finger puppets that he made at school.

Peanut: I like when he tries to scare the kid because he doesn't scare him. 

Peanut: Piggie tries to dress up as a robot because Gerald likes robots. Gerald just wants Piggie to play with him. He was so scared of all the stuff. He was just so scared of everything.

Peanut: I like when the birds were on Piggie's head at the end. At the really end, when there 

was the pigeon, guess where he was? He was at the end eating a hot dog in the birds' nest.

Peanut: She was mad at Gerald because he didn't break the toy. Because it was a toy that could go together but they didn't know it so that's why she was mad at Gerald for no reason. 

Peanut: When she's crying, it's funny. She's like, "Waa!" and it's just so funny. 

And then she's like, "Aggle, flaggle, klabble" and it's just so funny.

Peanut: I like when her parents pretend they're robots and she has to fight them. 

She doesn't have to fight them like I do with dad, but she has to escape. 

Peanut: My favorite part is when we see all the places Knuffle Bunny can go.

Ever since Little Bean was a baby, I have wanted to make Mo Willems' Knuffle-Bunny-style art. I had printed pictures in black and white forever ago but never drew the pictures to go into them. When I told Peanut my idea, he was ready to go. I love that he drew the pictures of himself and his brother. They turned out really sweet and I can't wait to frame them. Hooray for book-inspired art!

Peanut: I liked it when the horse went to the bathroom. And guess what he said? Cat the Cat said, "Time to sleep." And the horse was on the potty, and he said, "I'm on it." And Cat the Cat meant that he needed to go to the sleep and he said he was on it but he really meant he was on the potty. 

It cracks me up that Peanut loved this part about the horse being on the potty. I've heard Ralph Fletcher talk about letting boys write about what they want to write about and that what interests boys is definitely different from what interests girls...and I get to live that firsthand with my two sons for sure!

Peanut's Final Thoughts: I just like Mo Willems' books because they are funny. 

I like looking for all the characters hiding in the books. It's just so funny and fun.

I loved seeing how animated Peanut became when talking about all of these wonderful books. 

We would love to hear what you love about Mo Willems and his characters and his books! 

Do you have a favorite book? A favorite character? Please share!