HOW MO WILLEMS MAKES US LAUGH

photo credit:  Marty Umans

Mo Willem's wildly popular picture books about pigeons, piggies, elephants and kunffle bunnies have kids laughing, and reading.  The books - with simple illustrations and word bubbles - are perfect as family read alouds and also as first readers for young learners.  Perhaps it's his past writing and animating for Sesame Street that make his short (sometimes only one-word) sentences fit so perfectly with his simple pictures.

Parents and kids alike will get the quick wit.  And new readers will feel the satisfaction of reading a whole book from start to finish by themselves.  I fondly witnessed this last week when I brought my friend's kids WE ARE IN A BOOK!

(I knew I had to get it into the hands of her middle child Jonah, who is a new reader, after I stood - laughing out loud - in the middle of the bookstore!)

and when another friend's daughter, Sophie, delighted in ELEPHANTS CANNOT DANCE!  all by herself.

The PIGEON books are just as hilarious...  

I was introduced to DON'T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS

at a family camp during "Skit Night".  

THE PIGEON FINDS A HOTDOG

In fact, several of Mo's stories have been turned into plays and musicals!  I think the appeal of these books is the humorous, yet simple, way that Mo deals with kids' emotions and challenges (such as learning to share and not being jealous). That and his funny characters help his stories translate perfectly to the stage.

From "Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late" Musical

Mo's KNUFFLE BUNNY books are also adorable and endearing, with his simple illustrations and signature word bubbles, this time against a photographic background.  In the first story, KNUFFLE BUNNY: A CAUTIONARY TALE,
a little toddler named Trixie accompanies her dad to the neighborhood laundromat and loses her stuffed bunny.  Panicking, she tries communicating this to him, as he unsuccessfully tries to interpret her "flabble-babbling" on their way back home...

Click HERE to read about KNUFFLE BUNNY: A CAUTIONARY MUSICAL and watch a video interview with Mo Willems (at the end of the post).

And have fun perusing Mo Willem's website with your child.

HOW CHOOSING GOOD READ ALOUD BOOKS CAN HELP CULTIVATE YOUNG SOULS...

BOOKS THAT BUILD CHARACTER, by William Kilpatrick and Gregory and Suzanne M. Wolfe, is a wonderful guide for parents, grandparents, and teachers who want to choose worthwhile and imaginative books for children. Honestly, if you could only buy one book on the subject, this would be the one I'd recommend! It's full of good children's stories that are as satifying on an adult level as they are on a child's. The recommended reading list is a comprehensive guide of book summaries, grouped by age level (young, middle, and older readers) and literary genre.

Here are some more of the authors' thoughts on why reading good stories with a moral dimension can help cultivate young souls:

HOW CAN READING ALOUD GOOD BOOKS TO CHILDREN DEVELOP THEIR CHARACTER?

- Stories create an emotional attachment to goodness, or a desire to do the right thing.

- Stories provide a wealth of good examples to kids - the kind of examples that might be missing from some children's day-to-day environments.
- Stories are a good way of introducing "codes of conduct" to kids.
- Stories can help kids make sense out of life.

HOW DO GOOD STORIES HELP CHILDREN LEARN RIGHT FROM WRONG?

Good writing in stories can touch kids on a level where it really matters - their imaginations - by giving them mental pictures: "images". Pictures have a way of staying in children's memories long after parents explanations and admonitions have worn thin. So one of the benefits of good read alouds, whether based in real life or fantasy, is that they save the parent from doing all the reminding! And through the power of the imagination, children can vicariously participate in the stories, sharing with the hero/heroine's choices and challenges.

A great example of this for young readers is The Tale of Peter Rabbit, by Beatrix Potter. What child will forget how Peter disobeyed his mother, got sick from being wet and cold in Mr. McGregor's garden, and had to go to bed..."while Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail had bread and milk and blackberries for supper"! (My kids asked for this story over, and over, and over...)

Or, for older readers, what about all the life lessons learned by David as he comes of age in the novel David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens? They will definitely develop an emotional attachment with the young David, as he learns about friendship, kindness, love, and forgiveness from the many colorful characters he encounters!

Here are a few exceptional titles we might have missed or never attempted to read aloud, if it weren't for the fact that they were recommended in BOOKS THAT BUILD CHARACTER:

The Princess and the Goblin, by George MacDonald
Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Jester
Prydain Chronicles, by Lloyd Alexander
Carry on, Mr. Bowditch, by Jean Lee Latham
The Endless Steppe, by Esther Hautzig
Barry the Bravest St. Bernard, by Lynn Hall
Book of Virtues, by William Bennett
Miss Rumphius, by Barbara Clooney
The Bully on Barkham Street, by M. Stoltz
Lord of the Flies, by William Golding