‘Till Next Year…

Well, that does it for Mo Willems Doodles for 2007.

This blog started as an experiment a year ago last week and has since devoured my old website. Thanks for all the support and enthusiasm you’ve shown over the last year; it is appreciated.

Here at the Marcraft Novelty MFG Corp. we have lots to look forward to in 2008, including:

The release the new Pigeon Book! (plus the announcement of the winner of the contest!)

The release of 2 new Elephant and Piggie books: I Will Surprise My Friend! and I Love My New Toy!

Super-soft Elephant and Piggie Plushies and an incredibly cool Pigeon Backpack!

A big, solo exhibition featuring my picture book art (and some other grown-up art, too)!

The completion of the Knuffle Bunny Too animated short!

The return of the Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! musical production touring the US, Canada and England. Plus previews of a new musical based on The Pigeon Finds a Hotdog! and Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late!

Oh, and I’ll be touring, too. I’ll visit bookshops, schools, seminars, and book festivals in (among other places): Nashville, Seattle, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Dallas, Abilene, Knoxville, New York, London, Dublin, Anaheim, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Nebraska, Connecticut, Georgia, and of course Brooklyn*.

I’m sure there will be loads more exciting stuff to chat about, so keep it tuned here in 2008!

Here’s wishing you a fine, safe holiday with family, friends, and/or loved ones.

Your pal,

Mo


(*as you can see I’m booked up, but info on my appearing at your event is here)

The Pigeon Wants… a better name!

That’s one of the guesses at PigeonPresents.com’s “The Pigeon Wants a…Contest” page. Just click on the entry form and see what some of your buddies are guessing. Then you can download your copy of the entry form and draw your own guess!

Also, check out the new coloring page and new, updated video interview.

Rock on!

(Oh, and Tacoma Washington likes Elephant and Piggie)

Suzie Kabloozie Paloozie…

Someone has started to post some of my old Sesame Street Suzie Kabloozie shorts. So, I thought I’d show them here.

They’re a mixed bag, which represent a progression for me both in terms of animation and technology (the first films were done traditionally with hand painted cels, the latter ones were drawn, scanned, and digitally colored).

As I’ve mentioned before, Suzie was my first continuing character appearing in 16 shorts (some of the very short) that I animated between 1995 and 1999.

Here’s her debut, complete with vaguely adult humor that I managed to get away with…



This later one features rhymes and transitions in a direct homage to my favorite film Gerald McBoing Boing.



As time went by, Suzie started to sing. First songs I wrote:



Then she butchered classic Sesame Songs:



My favorite was Suzie’s Somebody Come and Play, in which Feff did his best to escape her clutches throughout.

Suzie was the first in a line of plucky little girls that I created, followed by The Off-Beats’ Betty-Anne Bongo, Sheep in the Big City’s Lisa Rental, and Knuffle Bunny’s Trixie…

This Week…

As the year winds down, I hope to see you at my last public event of the year, Monday's Brooklyn Screening of the Knuffle Bunny cartoon.

After that, it's down time and a chance for me to get started on the newest adventures of my two buddies, Elephant and Piggie!

?

N-E-YAY!

I just received my copy of the National Education Association’s Read Across America 2008 Resource Calendar and Toolkit which features gobs of cool stuff, including a calendar jam-packed with illustrations from books by pals Kadir Nelson, Jon Muth, Christopher Myers, Robert Neubecker, and many others (oh, like me. Knuffle Bunny Too is January).

It rocks.

Also included is this Elephant and Piggie mini-poster:



Want one for your classroom, school, or library? Sign up now while supplies last!

A little gift…

Here’s a little something for the holiday season: a Pigeon bookplate.

Click on the image to enlarge, print, fill in the name of a friend, and voila!

Goes well with all kinds of books. Except maybe Jon Scieszka books. I don’t think they’ll work with Jon Scieszka books.

Happy holidays.

Animated Acting…

I’ve briefly mentioned my early days freelancing at R. O. Blechman’s Ink Tank Studio and being taught animation there at nights by the lovely, generous Tissa David.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much work for an over-enthusiastic, under-talented animator in the city back then. Sure, occasionally I’d get work, but not the work I wanted.

The Ink Tank’s hipster downtown rival Broadcast Arts hired me to write, not animate.

And Bob Blechman hired me as an actor*. Here’s a spot where I play a young R.O. Blechman, a spot which ran in festivals for years, even after I’d gotten my hair cut.

Enjoy.

(*While there may have been a surplus of animators in the city in '93 or so, New York seems to have been short on dirt cheap actors who could operate flip-books backwards while wearing a bow tie…)

TIME for …

…The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to plug the Pigeon, Leonardo, and Knuffle Bunny plush dolls…

…The Providence Journal to plug Knuffle Bunny Too…

…And Time for TIME to list their 10 best Children’s Books.

Elephant and Piggie’s Today I Will Fly! clocks in at #2! Thanks, TIME!

Panda Cat

(plus the Chicago Sun Times thinks KB2 makes a good unleaded gift.)

A slew of reviews…

The LA Times features Knuffle Bunny Too and the Elephant and Piggie books in their best books of 2007 piece.

Not to be outdone, 3 enthusiastic bloggers heap praise on Elephant and Piggie.

And, here’s a brief (and oddly formated) interview with Walt Whitman’s old paper.

Have a nice weekend.

Fortunately...?

Fortunately, a couple of years back, Leonardo the Terrible Monster was lucky enough to win a few state awards voted on by children.

Unfortunately, the award ceremonies occurred when I was booked elsewhere.

Fortunately, the fine folks at Hyperion helped me make a little thank you video.

Unfortunately, a little bird came in and ruined it.

Fortunately, the audiences didn't seem to mind.

Unfortunately, I recently rediscovered the video.

Fortunately...?



(apologies to Remy Charlip)

Blue...

Yay Fan Mail!

This time, I thought that instead of excerpting from various drawings and books, I’d feature a whole masterpiece: The Party and the Pictures.

This tome starts off with all of my characters invited to a party. They even seem happy about it. The festivities are innocent enough (everyone’s at my place, apparently), until the Pigeon freaks out, and the whole book gets abstract.

Pacing, tension, colors: this one has it all. Huzzah!










Tell your little one(s), I loves me some fan mail. Send it to:

Mo Willems Fan Mail
c/o Christian Trimmer
Hyperion Books for Children
114 5th Ave, 14th fl.
New York, NY 10011

Please be patient as it takes a while to get the mail forwarded.

Boneless…

Often I’m told by Knuffle Bunny fans that their favorite part of the book is when Trixie goes ‘boneless’, a line written by my wife.

Digging through some old notebooks the other day, I came across some early, early, early sketches for the scene:



As you can see, in the end I went for something slightly less dramatic:

This Week…

… begins auction #3 for Robert’s Snow, which has some pretty cool snowflakes available (with proceeds going to cancer research). You can even bid on my little number. Bid often, bid high. The auction closes at the end of the week.

In less moral news, my spies tell me that there is a good chance of Knuffle Bunny (the book) appearing on the television series All My Children this Friday (Dec. 7th).

This is not KB’s first televised reference. Many fans and friends have contacted me about a recent Knuffle reference on the Nov. 22nd episode of Ugly Betty. I hadn’t seen the show before, but they were so nice, I’m now a fan.

Not to be outdone, the Pigeon, in the form of a board book, is rumored to appear in the recent feature film Waitress.

The Pigeon also had a soap opera debut on One Life to Live earlier this year.

And both the Pigeon and Knuffle Bunny books may get some air-time on a cop show next season.

All in all, my books have faired better on TV and Movies than my TV shows have.

Outside of Sheep’s appearances on Sheep in the Big City, he’s been seen on Codename: Kids Next Door (my favorite reference: when the KND try to use the villains’ password, “Sheep”, they are informed, “I’m sorry. That password has been CANCELED!”.

Clips of the show were also seen on the big screen in the Ishtar of our day: Gigli.

Speaking of Sheep, here’s his take on One Life to Live:




Have a good week.

Speaking of Leonardo…

In addition to the French version, the UK version of Leonardo the Terrible Monster is out and has been garnering some nice reviews:

Liverpool Echo: “Simple is stunning in this great new picture book. It’s funny, it’s heartwarming and it’s a must read for you and the little ones.”

The Independent: “…humourous, affectionate, elegantly economic, and very child-friendly.”

Junior: (starred review) “With a brilliantly strong graphic style, Leonardo is an enjoyable and jaunty tale of unconventional friendship.”

EYE-Early Years Educator: “…a fabulous and fun read.”

London’s Sunday Times includes Leonardo on their best of year list.

and Ireland’s Infant Magazine says: “Perfect for the whole family…Fabulous illustrations and a great story!”

Back State-side, the Cleveland Plain Dealer likes Knuffle Bunny Too.

I’ll get to thank the kind Brits and Irish this summer for a super quick book tour (Mo’ info later…).

December Appearances...

I'll be slowing it down in December appearance-wise, so I can concentrate on some book projects and take some down time for the holidays.

So, the only scheduled event for the month is on Monday Dec. 17th at 4pm, where I'll be in attendance for a screening of the Knuffle Bunny cartoon along with The Adventures of Prince Achmed, a silhouette feature from 1926. It all takes place at the Cobble Hill Cinema in Brooklyn. No word on a signing afterwards, but I'll update if there is one.