Mo and more Mo.

Found these wonderful interviews with Mo Willems, I thought I would share them with you.

"that's the sort of effort that goes into a book.. if you noticed it, you failed."

"While I'm working on a book with one set of characters, I'm thinking and doodling about another set"

Book Review: Elephant and Piggie

I'm departing from picture books this week to spotlight the dynamic duo of Elephant & Piggie, by Mo Willems. A friend pointed the series out to me years ago, so when my preschooler was looking for something different, I grabbed one. And then another, and another. And now we've read every one. The newest title, Let's Go for a Drive, was an easy choice for a Christmas gift.

Yes, the language and the art is exceedingly 'simple'. And it's an early reader coming in at 60 pages. Don't be put off if any of those things might lead you to think your child won't love them or that they aren't actually complex, enriching stories. The characters are strong individuals, so like many little ones, and funnier and more empathetic than you or I could hope to be.
Note: The spread above is from I Am Invited to A Party!

Library Loot and Link Love

This pile might be two visits worth of books. The Mo Willems' Elephant and Piggie series is a huge hit right now with my 3yo. We've also been reading lots of Oliver Jeffers - although The Incredible Book Eating Boy remains my son's favorite (I couldn't pick, really).

And for some Link Love:

Design of the Picture Book : Authored by Carter Higgins, this is a gorgeous blog, devoted to gorgeous, well-designed books. I'll be losing myself here tonight, reading every post.

Sweet Squares : Illustrator Diandra Mae just started a fun month of experimentation called 'Sweet Squares'. I'm joining in the fun. You should too. Let loose for five minutes a day on a 3"x3" square.

More Mo

I love Mo Willems' books and the characters he creates! I also like listening to him talk about writing and creating the characters and stories. Ok, so I love New Orleans as well, which is his home town... all around, I am "Pro Mo". If you search his name on You Tube, there is quite a bit of content. Here are just a couple of videos for your viewing pleasure!

City Dog, Country Frog

Here is a book that's been putting a big smile on my face lately. I love that this book is a collaboration between two top contemporary children's book author/illustrators, but within each of their contributions, you see a different and new side to each artist. The book is written by Mo Willems, so well known for his very humorous and sharp writing and bold characters and dialogue. Here, his writing is more restrained but just as evocative, with a delicate gravity that is so complimented by the art. Jon Muth, so well known for his peaceful and so meditative "Zen" series of books, provides the art. I really appreciate his technical mastery of watercolors as well as his style, but in terms of only being familiar with the Zen series, though the books are lovely, I do find them to have a sort of cold, isolating feeling to them. So to be able to experience his picture book art in a different contextual world but still in picture book land was a revelation to me. I will now look at more of his books and will appreciate the new facets of his art that I am now aware of. These two are a match made in picture book heaven in their production of City Dog, Country Frog. I hope you will check it out.

A day with Mo

I know what you are thinking, has she gone nuts? How many videos is she posting?!

Oh... but you'll enjoy them all so much plus they are very short and one comes right after the other so I wanted you all to get the full Mo experience. :o)

Speaking of Mo Willems, after watching all these videos make sure to hop over to Kelly Light's Ripple blog because he was wonderful enough to donate some cards made by him! The cards are available today at 50$ each and all the proceedings will be donated to two charities helping the victims of the oil spill. C'mon, this is your chance to own a Mo Willems one of a kind original! How cool is that!

Now I leave you with the one and only, Mo Willems (may I just say, Mo you rock!).

Enjoy! :o)