Lane & Mo paint!

Here's a blast from the past.  Pal Lane Smith and I in Washington, CT  4 years ago painting a giant mural for the heck of it. I love it when the kids join in.

Nothing like a big old doodle with pals.

Bunny Dreams...

Thanks to you...

a Thanksgiving treat: Knuffle Bunny Free spends it's 8th week on both  the NYTimes Bestseller list and the Indie Bestseller list at #6!



Elephant & Piggie's We Are in a Book! is #12 on the Indie Children's Interest list.

 

And the San Francisco Chronicle has picked both Knuffle Bunny Free and City Dog, Country Frog for their best of the year list!




And thanks to pal Ryan Tubridy for including Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! on IRE's big Toy Show!


Huzzah!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year, because it's inclusive, there's no wrong way to celebrate it, and no one complains that their Thanksgiving day gifts weren't what they wanted.

We'll be eating and doodling with family & friends.

Here at the Studio, we have an embarrassment of riches to be thankful for, including our family, health, & your support. 

Have a great holiday.

Touring with Knuffle

Here's a nice, short article about the touring company of KNUFFLE BUNNY: A CAUTIONARY MUSICAL with an interview with Dad.

Also, some nice pictures of the new cast:

I'll admit it's a bit weird seeing different actors than the ones I work-shopped with in the roles, but I've been hearing fantastic stuff about them from the venues, KC staff, and director, Rosemary Newcott.  I'm looking forward to hanging out with them when the show rolls into my town in March.

You can follow Team Knuffle's adventures as they travel across the continent via twitter @ KCTYAonTour
 
Stay tuned for more Knuffle Musical news!

Thanks Newspapers!

It's been a great weekend for newspaper coverage.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer , The NC News Observer, and The Charlotte Observer have picked Knuffle Bunny Free as one of their favorite books of the year which rocks.

But, I think I'll have to subscribe to the Columbus Dispatch whose panel of adults and kids chose Knuffle Bunny Free, City Dog, Country Frog, and We Are in a Book! for their top 20 book list! (here are their reviews of their picture book selections)

Thanks to all and here's hoping your upcoming holiday will include reading some books!

Oh, and here's a piece about a seemingly nice lady who should not be allowed to vote.

Thanks to you...

 

Knuffle Bunny Free spends it's 7th week on the New York Times Bestseller list at #3!

And over at the Indie bestseller list, Knuffle Bunny Free is #3 on the Children's Illustrated list and Elephant & Piggie's We Are in a Book! is #12 on the Children's Interest list!

Huzzah!

Thanks for your support!

And now for your moment of, well, not Zen, but syndicated TV weirdness:

Many people sent me emails about this, more than I would have suspected.

Wait a sekin! What are they doing!? WOW! That is not good!

I've resisted the idea of creating a holiday Pigeon book. Why? Here's an excerpt from my favorite holiday book idea EVER. I just can't compete:






Note to self, always check the job descripshon.

AWESOME WORK GUYS!

On the lists...

 

The year end lists continue and I'm thrilled to see both City Dog, Country Frog and Elephant & Piggie's We Are in a Book! on the Kirkus Best of 2010 list along with some of my favorites.

 

Elephant & Piggie's We Are in a Book! also made the School Library Journal's best of list!

 

And City Dog, Country Frog made it on the Huffington Post Best of the year list and the Booklist Editor's Choice list for 2010

Thanks to all the list makers!

And if that's not enough, check out this great review of  We Are in a Book!  from Scripps Howard.  Reviewer Karen MacPherson says:

Willems' hilarious story is perfectly paced. It's also slyly educational, as Willems refers to "word bubbles" and has Piggie point to page numbers. The artwork, done in gray and pink on a white background, appears simple, but alert readers will clearly understand that Willems is a master of expressing worlds of meaning in a few lines.

Huzzah!

Yay dinner doodle dinner!

We recently had the pleasure of having Lisa Brown over to Knuffle Manor and celebrated with a doodle dinner for her with Holly Black, Theo Black and the family.

A fun night of food and doodles!  Here are the results:


(click to bigafy)

 And here are some details.

Theo:

Cher:

Myself:

Holly:

Lisa:

The Trixter:

Huzzah!  A fun night was had by all!

 Why not have your own doodle dinner with pals? It's fun!


There was some chalkboard drawing, but not much as we all had so much fun at the table.  More doodles later!  If you want to see past dinners & parties, click here.

Dishwashing Fashion

Another Sheep in the Big City skit from a decade ago:

Sketchbook...

a doodle for the 2010 sketchbook.

Thanks to you...

Knuffle Bunny Free spends it's 6th week on the New York Times Bestseller list at #3.  Wow.

And over at the Indie bestseller list, Knuffle Bunny Free is #2 on the Children's Illustrated list and Elephant & Piggie's We Are in a Book! is #11 on the Children's Interest list.

Huzzah!

Thanks, you.

Added bonus: 

here are a bunch of pictures from the R Michelson Gallery opening the other night. Gaggles of authors and illustrators abound!

I love foreign editions!

Just in, Simplified Chinese editions of Knuffle Bunny and Knuffle Bunny Too!

Huzzah!

Various recording...

Just back from a couple of fun days in NYC.  In addition to business and a visit to Books of Wonder (thanks for coming out to visit) the purpose of the trip was to record the track for the track for our next animated production, Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late! featuring myself as the Pigeon and Jon Scieszka as the Bus Driver.

The start of the recording session was unfortunately marred by some technical issues:

Finally, we got things figured out and had a great record!  Producer Paul Gagne and director Pete List tried to keep us on script, occasionally succeeding.



After such an exhausting time of not listening to Paul and Pete it was time for a yummy dinner with Jon, his lovely wife Jeri, and pal David Shannon.  Sausage!

The following day, after some work at the publishers, I managed to catch Robert Forbes' amazing Ronald Searle Exhibit at the Forbes Gallery in the Village. Anyone with the slightest interest in illustration should get down there to see the one of the world's greatest living illustrators.  Robert has an incredible collection. There's stuff from his internment in WWII camps all the way to his most recent book.  Besides the work, his book inscriptions certainly put mine to shame.  Great fun.

Thanks to my agent Marcia, for a Mad Men-like lunch at a steak house and to Bryan Batt for sending me his hilarious New Orleans Memoir (She Ain't Heavy, She's My Mother) which made for great train reading and reminiscing of my own NOLA childhood (at least when I wasn't chatting with my art dealer R. Michelson who happened to be on the same train).

Speaking of recordings, here's a recent short interview from my local NPR station WFCR that ran this week where I talk about Knuffle Bunny Free and childhood.

December Appearance...

After a busy fall on the road reading from Knuffle Bunny Free and Elephant & Piggie's We Are in a Book!, it's back to the old drawing board for me.

So this month, instead of any literary public events, I thought, "why not ballet?"

So, on December 11 at 1pm in Northampton MA's beautiful Academy of Music theater I will be making a special guest appearance/debut* in the Pioneer Valley Ballet's production of The Nutcracker in the role of Mother Ginger.

Really.



Rest assured, I'm told my part is small enough not to ruin any of the actual dancing that is to take place. Apparently, I was cast based on my girlish figure and beard.

Tickets are available here. The Nutcracker runs for several more performances, but each show features a different Mother Ginger. Again, mine is December 11 at 1pm.

See ya there!

*That does not, of course, include a 10th grade appearance in the 'movement group' ILLUSIONS (where I jumped around in parachute pants and a broken arm).

The end is near...

The end of the year has begun, which means Best of the Year lists.

I'm happy to report that both Knuffle Bunny Free and City Dog, Country Frog have been named one of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of the Year. A real honor.  Thanks PW!


Meanwhile over at Amazon.com named Knuffle Bunny Free a Customer Favorite of the year and City Dog, Country Frog was named an Editor's Pick Best Book of the Year for 2010.



City Dog, Country Frog also makes the Barnes & Noble best of 2010 list.  They call the effort:

A triumph of understatement, Willems's tale unfolds in spare, lovely language, leaving Jon Muth's gorgeously muted watercolors to convey the full emotional power. 

Yikes! Nice.

Back over at PW, here's a nice review of Knuffle Bunny Free and pal David Weisner's latest on their Shelf Talker blog.

Huzzah!

I Love It When We're Friends (Elephant & Piggie Fan Mail)

This time, let's take a look at the old mailbag for some Elephant & Piggie Fan Mail Favorites!

Additional scenes from CAN I PLAY TOO?

Love this variation on a theme with a snail:
Pigeon doesn't look happy about not being the star of this drawing:


A few from PIGS MAKE ME SNEEZE!:







Great morphing abilities:




Hey, look! It's the whole gang!:


Huzzah!

If you or your class wants to share some awesomeness, please send it to:

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

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

Teachers, a cover letter with the grade of your students is appreciated.

Please note, I cannot accept packages or books to be signed and returned.