Cat the Cat in my Studio the Studio!

A recently arrived package to Knuffle Manor contained my first two actual copies of Cat the Cat's premier adventures, Cat the Cat, Who Is That? and Let's Say HI to Friend Who Fly!

It's always a thrill to hold one of your books in your hands.

I hope you'll get a kick when you put one in your hands starting Mardi Gras day (February 16). I'll be touring around reading it for the week after that, so please drop by and say 'hello'.

Huzzah!

Cat the Cat sizzle!

Benefit Auction, Northampton

If you're western Mass. this weekend, please think about dropping by Northampton's William Baczek Fine Arts Gallery on Main Street this Sunday, January 31 starting at 1pm.

The Gallery will be hosting a pretty cool art auction to benefit victims of a recent night of mass arson that left two town residents dead and many families homeless. Those who survived the evening, but whose houses did not need some help getting their lives in order after this egotistical and sickening crime.

100% of sales will go to the victims and the art is starting at a mere 20% of its value!

So, here's your chance to do some real good for some folks and walk away with some real bargain-priced art. There are also a bunch of other events going around town.

In my case, you can bid on an original page from the multiple Geisel-award winning Elephant and Piggie series framed by the fine folks at the Richard Michelson Gallery.


This charcoal on paper page comes from Watch Me Throw the Ball! I'll throw in an autographed copy of the book as well.

UPDATE: You can see many of the pieces available HERE.

Best of luck and happy bidding!

Elephant and Piggie's I AM GOING! publishes TODAY!

Today is the pub date for Elephant and Piggie's latest adventure, I Am Going!

Gerald is careful. Piggie is not.

Piggie cannot help smiling. Gerald can

Gerald worries so that Piggie does not have to.

Gerald and Piggie are best friends.

In I Am Going! Piggie ruins a perfectly good day

by telling Gerald he is going. But if Piggie goes, who will

Gerald play ping-pong and wear silly hats with?

I hope you enjoy it!

News and thanks.

Thanks to everyone at the Theater for Young Audiences Convention in Pittsburgh and the sold out Kids Film Fest in Dallas* for being so kind over the past few days.

I hope you've been having fun over at GoMo.net while I was away.

I've just returned to the studio, ready to work, and discovered that even 17 year olds like Elephant and Piggie and a nice review of Pigs Make Me Sneeze!


*Here's a bit more from the interview I gave for that event and a Dallas review of the animated Knuffle Bunny. Apologies to those who couldn't get into the screening and thanks for the support.

.

When two worlds collide...

I'm winging it to Pittsburgh to talk to children's theater folk about the upcoming Knuffle Bunny Musical, and it turns out that Big Wooden Horse's Pigeon Party is there as well!

Here's a nice story in the Pittsburgh paper about the show.

Maybe I'll take in a show when I'm there.

I'm off! (Check out CAT THE CAT's new WEBSITE!

I'm winging my way to Pittsburgh and Dallas. Hope to see you if you're in the area.*


While I'm gone, I encourage you to be some of the first to visit Cat the Cat's fabulous new web home at GoMo.net!

Much like The Pigeon's site, Cat the Cat's is filled with fun like: games, book info, a kid's gallery, info for grown ups, downloadables for parents and teachers, tour info, even a video of me, Cat the Cat, and pals! The folks at Harper Collins really did a great job bringing these characters to life.

Oh, and see if you can find the sooper-sneak-peek image of Trixie in this fall's upcoming Knuffle Bunny Free: an Unexpected Diversion!

What are you waiting for? GoMO!


*Hopefully, The Pigeon will tweet (or coo) while I'm away.

What's that you said?

PLUS: a nice review for Big Frog Can't Fit In!

CAT the CAT’s a STAR! (according to PW)

Publishers' Weekly likes Cat the Cat and her friends! In a starred review of both CAT THE CAT WHO IS THAT? and LET'S SAY HI TO FRIENDS WHO FLY! they say:

Willems provides just enough humor and surprise to entertain youngest audiences... Cat could become another favorite; her personality sparkles in expansive gestures and gleeful interactions.

Huzzah!

Hopefully, you'll like them as well when they are published next month!

(and a quick note: The Pigeon would like to thank everyone for their kind tweets and coos over yesterday's good news.)

DON'T LET THE PIGEON WIN THE CARNEGIE!

As was officially announced at the American Library Association's annual conference, the animated version of DON'T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS! has been awarded the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Home Video.

I'm thrilled to be sharing the award with co-producer Weston Wood's Paul Gagne, an award we could only have won thanks to the awesome animation of Pete List and vocal talent of Ambassador Jon Scieszka.

This is Paul and my second medal (the animated Knuffle Bunny won a few years back), which is doubly exciting. I feel strongly that well animated versions of picture books are an important gateway for what are now called 'reluctant readers' (and in my day were called 'boys'). It's magic to me if a kid is jazzed by a cartoon and then can check out the book and be jazzed by that.

I look forward to getting to thank the committee in person at this summer's ALA convention.

Your school or library can get it here (there's a clip, too) and it will be screened this weekend in Dallas for the Mo Willems retrospective.

FYI: Paul, Pete, and I are currently working on THE PIGEON FINDS A HOT DOG! with myself reprising the role of The Pigeon, and my daughter as The Duckling. I'd expect it to be ready for a fall release.

Happy MLK Day!

Let's hear it for the dream of America becoming a true Meritocracy.

Nap.

Plus, from the Star Telegram, some books (including Elephant and Piggie) for guys.

I AM GOING! is coming!

I just got my box of copies of Elephant and Piggie's newest adventure, I Am Going!

It's always great to have the actual books in my hands!

You can get your copy starting January 26th at your local library or favorite book shop.

CAT the CAT’s TOUR the TOUR!

(Note: I've been getting reports that this post may be reading wonky on some computers. Sorry! I don't know why and will attempt to fix it.)




February will be a busy month as we launch the brand new CAT THE CAT series of books with CAT THE CAT WHO IS THAT? and LET’S SAY HI TO FRIENDS WHO FLY! I’ll be flying around the country reading these books for very young kids along with the latest installment of the Elephant and Piggie adventures, I AM GOING!

If you’re in the area, I hope you’ll drop by, ask a few questions, have a few laughs, and listen to a few stories.

The schedule below is always subject to change, so please contact the venue and confirm before you plan your trip.

NEW ORLEANS, LA

Friday, February 12 @ noon

Louisiana Children’s Museum (w/Garden District Book Shop)

420 Julia Street New Orleans, LA 70130

Saturday, February 13

Tucks, Uptown

I’ll be riding Tucks with my wife this year and among other throws, we’ll have special Elephant and Piggie Kazoos. Show some love for E+P or the Pigeon or Knuffle Bunny and we’ll toss ‘em to ya.

[I'll be on float 6, "Locked Up @ Broad", riverside]

HOUSTON, TX

Wednesday, February 17 @ 5pm

Blue Willow Books

I'll be appearing off-site at:

Meadow Wood Elementary School

13230 Memorial Drive

Houston, Texas 77079

AUSTIN, TX

Thursday, February 18 @ 6pm

BookPeople

603 North Lamar

Austin, Texas 78703

SAN FRANCISCO, CA

Friday, February 19 @ 1pm

Copperfield’s

140 Kentucky St

Petaluma, CA 94952

Saturday, February 20 @ 2pm

Borders

233 Winston Drive

San Francisco , CA 94132

LOS ANGELES , CA

Sunday, February 21 @ 2pm

Vroman’s

695 E. Colorado Blvd

Pasadena , CA 91101

Tuesday, February 23 @ 6pm

B&N

3rd St. Promenade

1201 3rd St.

Santa Monica, CA 90401

CHICAGO, IL

Thursday, February 25 @ 7pm

Anderson ’s (off site)

Mill St. School

1300 N. Mill Street

Naperville , IL 60563

.

CLEVELAND, OH

Friday, February 26 @ 6:30pm

B&N w/the Cuyahoga County Public Library

*New Venue*

Barnes & Noble

28801 Chagrin Boulevard
Woodmere , OH 44122

Then back to the studio to do some drawing!

Huzzah!

Are Elephant and Piggie Comics?

I say, 'Sure. Why not?'

Over at The Comics Reporter, a conversation between two critics look back at the decade in comics and Elephant and Piggie's place in it and ends up with a 'Sure. Why not?' as well.

I'm certainly glad to be called a cartoonist just as I'm happy to see more cartooning in kids books (like pal Jeff Kinney's Wimpy Kid series) and more cartoons in kids books (like Jeff Smith's Bone series).

In fact, it's great seeing so many people named Jeff in comics or kids books...



The Comics Reporter was nice enough to review my grown-up cartoon travelogue, You Can Never Find a Rickshaw When it Monsoons, a while back as well as some of my annual sketchbooks that I send out to clients and friends every year. But, mostly I am thankful for the site for helping me discover the sublime Cul De Sac comic strip and eventually become pals enough with it's creator to get to write an intro for him.



And a quick thanks to The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books for awarding Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed with one of their annual Blue Ribbons!

Coats of Arms...

It's been a while since the family altered the chalkboard walls in Knuffle Manor's dining room, so for the new year we decided on a theme of Coats of Arms.

Much like our portraits, we were looking to provide symbols for fictional families.


The deal was thus:

One person drew the shield and motto ribbon.

Another person drew the inside of the shield.

A third person drew the animals around the shield and wrote the Coat's motto.

Each creation was, thus, a true collaboration.

Here's my favorite:

Or maybe this is my favorite:


Could be this one (note the hamsters holding up the gigantic shield):


This one is always a bit tricky as we leave this door to the kitchen open and half of the illustrations are usually lost to us for the duration.

So, this time we decided to play with that (apologies to Mr. Jaffee)


By the end of the day, the collaborations got weirder and weirder...



Just the way I like 'em.

Thus, why not tho' and thine family have a big old family draw (on paper, on canvas, or on the walls)?

Huzzah!

Pigeon Party! back on tour

The UK's Big Wooden Horse Theatre brings their adaptation of the Pigeon's books back State-side for another US and Canadian tour with PIGEON PARTY!

As they say:

Mo Willems' Pigeon is back and ready to party! Squeezing all the fun of the first three Pigeon books into one raucous production, this lively show for children 3 and up is full of fun, feathers, laughter and excitement and features original music and lots of audience participation. Can you stop Pigeon driving the bus? Will he share the hot-dog? And after all that it’s time for bed, the Bus Driver wants Pigeon to go to bed, all his friends want him to go to bed, but the question is will you let him stay up late ???

The full schedule of shows, which begin this week and run through late March, is right HERE!

"He doesn't have eyeballs all over his body and a mouth on his belly like Crazy Guy!"

A fantastic letter came in the most recent batch of fan mail filled with drawings inspired by the always underrepresented Leonardo the Terrible Monster in which a teacher asked her students to come up with more monsters that were scarier than Leonardo (like Tony and his many teeth):

Well, the kids went to town with the assignment. Every single one in the envelope was a winner, but here is a small selection some of the most awesome monsters ever:




"He doesn't have pointy legs and sharp ears like Gas."


"He is not just plain wacky like Weirdo."

"He doesn't have as many teeth as Fred."


"He doesn't have lots of eyeballs like Jack."



"He cannot be five things at once like Andra."

"He doesn't have big bushy eyebrows and a bunch of eyeballs like Earl."

"He doesn't have eyeballs all over his body and a mouth on his belly like Crazy Guy!"
"He doesn't have a lot of hair like Freddie."

Huzzah! I keep grinning just thinking of a world filled with these monsters!

We'd love to see your drawings here at the Mo Willems Studio. Drop a line to:

Mo Willems Fan Mail
c/0 Jennifer Crowell
Hyperion Books for Children and Pigeons
114 5th Ave 14th fl. New York, NY 10011

Please be patient, it takes a while for mail to be forwarded!

(Teachers: a cover letter including the grade you teach is appreciated)

JANUARY SCHEDULE...

January will be a short month for appearances, but come February I'll be traveling across the country to introduce young readers to Cat the Cat and reading a new Elephant and Piggie book. The tour will include me riding in Tucks on the Saturday before Mardi Gras in my hometown of New Orleans and throwing special, exclusive Elephant and Piggie Kazoos! Stay tuned for details later in the week. But for now January: I'll be making two appearances:


Friday, Jan. 22
Pittsburgh, PA

1:30 p.m Harris Theater, 809 Liberty Avenue

I'll be the featured speaker at the International Performing Arts for Youth Showcase discussing my work in books and for the upcoming Knuffle Bunny Musical .

This speech is open to conference attendees only.


SATURDAY, JAN 23
Dallas, TX

3pm

26th KidFilm Festival (scroll to bottom for PDF schedule)
Angelika Film Center


The film festival has put together "A Tribute to Mo Willems", my first film retrospective, screening work from my 22 years in animation, including rare Off-Beats, Sesame Street, and the shorts films based on my books. I'm excited about seeing some work that I haven't seen in many years. Hopefully the audience will be as well.

I'll be on hand to answer questions after the screening, and while supplies last everyone in the audience will receive a free book (of mine, I hope).

Addendum: A book sale and signing will follow thanks to Legacy Books of Dallas.

This screening is open to the public (all ages).


Speaking of screenings, my past, and January, Mr. Warburton reports that his creation Codename: Kids Next Door (where I served as head-writer of wrongs for 4 seasons) has returned to the Cartoon Network afternoon line-up.

Booklist the Booklist, Cybil the Cybil, and Ambassador the Ambassador!

The first review is in for Let's Say Hi to Friends who Fly!, one of two books out this month from the brand new Cat the Cat series!

Booklist says:

Salutations to the enthusiastic and energetic Cat the Cat, the next certain-to-be-iconic character from the creator of multiple Geisel Award– and Caldecott Honor–winning titles....Kids just beginning to be beginning readers will welcome the arrival of Cat the Cat and her friends.

Thanks, Booklist!


And in more good new year news, Elephant and Piggie's Watch Me Throw the Ball! is a Cybils finalist. I Love My New Toy! won last year, so it's extra flattering to make the finalist list this year.

And the best books of the year (last year that is) keep comin'! Huzzah for Elephant and Piggie!

I'd also like to give a big shout-out to pal Jon Scieszka to thank him for 2 years of exemplary service as America's first National Ambassador for Children's Literature, especially for his work telling people of all ages it's okay to like to read funny. Huzzah to you, pal! And best of luck to incoming Ambassador Paterson. That's a big sash to fill....

(You can learn more about Cat the Cat at her big, fun upcoming website and my February tour. Mo' info to come...)

Coupons!

The Willems clan is lucky enough to be awash in the undertow of gifts during the holiday season, but our favorite gifts to give and get are our annual coupons.

Each family coupon lasts a year and is chock full of helpful, fun stuff that might otherwise get lost in the hubbub of the year.

Here is mine to my daughter this year.

Why not make coupons for your next birthday or xmas?