I love foreign editions!

The old mailbag recently contained a package with the Korean editions of Knuffle Bunny Free and City Dog Country Frog.  Check them out next time you're in Seoul.

Huzzah!

Vote Early!

It's time for the Children's Choice Book Awards voting, when real live kids and teachers and fans get to have their voices heard.  It was a thrill a few years back when The Pigeon Wants a Puppy! won an award and I had a great time wrestling Ambassador Scieszka to the ground while hosting last year's awards in NYC.

This year the hosting duties go to my pal and neighbor Jarrett Krosoczka.



I'm thrilled to announce that I've been nominated for Illustrator of the Year for Knuffle Bunny Free.  Will I win? We'll the other guys are pretty awesome.  But, more importantly, it depends on you!

The Children's Choice Awards are the culmination of Children's Book Week.

Check this year's poster by Peter Brown and Jeff Kinney's book mark here and don't forget to VOTE, VOTE, VOTE! 


(Here are photos of last years event & a report on the "Knuffle Scuffle")

April Appearance!

I'm afraid that next month is going to be a bit thin on public appearances, but May will be a busy month with visits to Los Angeles, San Diego, Austin, Dallas, Milwaukee, Chicago, and New York to celebrate the publication of Hooray for Amanda and Her Alligator!  More on that later, for now here's this month's appearance:

Thursday April 7, 7pm
Park Slope, Brooklyn B&N
Reading and Signing.

That's right, I'm dropping by the old neighborhood for a chance to hang out with all my old pals and make some new ones.  If you're in Brooklyn, please do drop by and say 'hello'.

This event is open to the public. 


Addendum!


Looks like I spoke (blogged) too soon.  I've just added another NYC event on

Sunday April 10 at 1pm
At the Lexington Avenue Armory
68 Lexington Ave (Between 25th &26th Streets)

I'll be at the MoCCA festival making sketches for $$ at the sketch table to support MoCCA.  The fest is always great fun; they have great cartoonists all hawking their wares.

It's a ticketed event, but worth it.  Mo' info on the fest here.

Addendum!Addendum!

Okay, this is the last appearance of the Month:

It seems that I along with my wife, Cher, and Gerald Budgar are going to be feted by The Trustees of Forbes Library and Northampton's Mayor for our work supporting our local Library (Only 2 out of the 3 of us deserve the recognition and it's not me, but there you have it).

We will be given an award on Saturday April 16th at the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Museum on the 2nd floor of Forbes Library at 2pm.  Afterward, we will screen the animated version of Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed. 

Then everyone can go visit the newly renovated kids rooms in the basement! 

Triple Play! (Thanks to YOU)

Thanks to you next week's NYTimes Bestseller list includes 3 of my books, We Are in a Book!, I Broke My Trunk!, and Knuffle Bunny Free!  


Amazing!

This is the 2nd time 3 of my books have landed on the list at the same time, both times it's happened while I was on vacation.  Lesson learned: more vacation.

Thanks to all of you for your continued support!

In other news, while I was away Nathan Fillion read Knuffle Bunny Free to support the cool book-donation charity Milk and Bookies.



And thanks to pals Jon Scieszka & his wife & my in-laws & my family for a fun dinner filled with fun doodles like these:

Huzzah!

Cul.De.Piggie...

Those of you who love cartooning know that Mr. Richard Thompson is the greatest living cartoonist whose name isn't Ronald Searle.  Mr. Thompson's greatness is thrown into sharp relief when you learn that he does his daily strip, Cul de Sac, while suffering from Parkinson's (which he calls his Slapstick Affliction).

Richard Thompson & myself at last year's National Cartoonist Society Gala.  We were the waiters.

Recently, Richard and some pals have started TEAM CUL DE SAC as part of the Fox Foundation.  They're gathering up great illustrations by great illustrators to be published in a book that will benefit Parkinson's research.  The original art will also be auctioned off at a later date (mo' info as it becomes available).

Thanks to a clerical error, they allowed me to make the following submission:

I do hope you'll pick up a copy of the book when it comes out.  In the meantime, I'd pick up some collections of Cul de Sac (I wrote the intro to the 2nd one and legendary Bill Watterson wrote the first).

I also hope to see you this weekend (Sunday at 11:30am) as I'm interviewed at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, MA.  A signing will follow.  And don't forget Saturday's Meldown in Northampton featuring hep kids music and pals like Jarrett Krosoczka, Kevin Markey, Jef Czekaj, Jeanne Birdsall, and Jon Scieszka. (This year's theme is authors whose names make spell-checks explode).

I love foreign editions!

I recently got a treat in the mail, my advance copy of ¡No dejes que la Paloma conduzca el autobus!, the brand new Spanish edition of Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!

Usually, you can only find the foreign editions of my books in foreign nations, this one will be available in the States at the end of the month. Check it out at your favorite local book store or library.

Other Spanish language books include El Conejito Knuffle: Un Cuento Aleccionador and this summer's ¡La Paloma encuentra un perro caliente!  

Also, if you're near Amherst, MA tonight, why not drop by for a panel Discussion with Norton Juster, Jeannie Birdsall, and myself.

Cole Assembly Room, Converse Hall, at Amherst College, Amherst

All to benefit the fine folks at Family Outreach of Amherst.

This is a ticketed event. Tickets are available by calling 413-549-5999.

Soundtrack NEWS!

Great news! The original cast soundtrack to Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical will be available soon as part of a special edition of Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale, including the full story, liner notes and a cool audio extra (a reading of the book by 4 year old Trixie and myself).

The album will also be released separately. 



I hope you enjoy the tunes whether you've gotten a chance to check out the show or not.

The musical continues its nation-wide tour.

Huzzah!

Hooray for Previews!

The old mail bag had a special surprise while I was away, a book about surprises: my preview copy of the upcoming HOORAY FOR AMANDA AND HER ALLIGATOR!

Outside of my travelog, it's my longest book to date, a hybrid picture book and chapter book chronicling the surprising adventures of a spunky girl and her nervous stuffed alligator in 6-1/2 stories.

I'm excited about this one, especially as the final book came out so well.

Here's a video featuring adorable scamps and my less adorable or scampy self talking about the book:




If you and your Alligator get a chance, please drop by GoMo.net to play Amanda Wants to Play! and download your own Books Beat Boredom digital wallpaper.

I'll be touring in the spring to celebrate it's release, but now it's fun to actually hold the book that I've been working on for the past few years, the first to be completely created in my current studio.

As Amanda says, "Books beat boredom!"

Thanks to you: Paris Recap

I've just returned to Knuffle Manor (and a stack of correspondence) after a fun trip to Paris that included, work, pleasure, and old pals.

First off was an afternoon & dinner with the very talented film writer & director Laurent Tirard and his kids. Laurent is an old pal from film school & a riotous trip to China.  Unfortunately, our time catching up was brief as Laurent is currently prepping for a huge Asterix & Oblisk feature. Past films include a rendition of the classic Le Petit Nicolas including this fabulous title sequence featuring work by one of my favorite cartoonists of all time, the great Sempe.

By chance, in addition to our museum* going, we happened upon a fabulous Sempe exhibit in a small gallery the next day.  Truly inspiring work.

Later in the week was an event in Monmatre, and while my French is passable, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to enlist another great friend from a separate riotous trip to China 21 years ago**, a Swiss Epicurean named Freddy Blanvillain.



Freddy currently plays accordian in a traditional French chanson dance band, which is why he brought along his ukulele.  He is also completely without shame and a great, loud reader.

Following a fabulous lunch with my French Publisher, Kaliedescope, we marched uphill to the bookstore and had a great time with the crowd that showed up for the reading.

Freddy's new wife, Marie, is a children's librarian and both of our families had great fun diving into tiny cafes and marching through the length and breadth of Paris. 

 
Luckily, I had pals reading my books State-side while away.  And, thanks to you, nice stuff kept happening, including Elephant and Piggie's  I Broke My Trunk spending another two weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list at #8!

There's lots more going on to post about in the coming days, including two events in Western Mass this week that I hope you'll consider dropping by if you're in the neighborhood.

Now, back to work!

*For families, I heartily second pal Brian Selznick's recommendation of the Sewer Museum, which is housed in an actual, working sewer.

**You can read about our adventures in YOU CAN NEVER FIND A RICKSHAW WHEN IT MONSOONS.

I'm off!/Mega Yay Fan Mail edition!

For a break, to see some pals, and a book signing on WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 3pm in Paris, France.
at:

"L’Attrape Cœur"
4 place Constantin Pecqueur
75018 PARIS

This will be my first signing in France where I'll be reading from books like Guili Lapin, 
Léonardo, le monstre épouvantable, and Vive la pluie !  in my broken french along with translation services by an old Swiss pal from my traveling days. If you're in Paris, please drop by!

  

There might be an occasional 'tweet' from The Pigeon while I'm away.  Until then, please enjoy this mega-edition of Fan Mail Favorites:

Piggie & Knuffle bunny at a disco!

Love Birds!

A minimalist exploration of CAN I PLAY TOO?

Pigeon invasion!

Like? No, I LOVE this picture! Gerald has just realized he doesn't know how to play bass guitar!

I thought it was for "Willems".

Love the (maybe)

Here is a heavily illustrated letter.

Here is a heavily lettered illustration.

Here are both!

Really? I'm going to have to look out for that!

1st appearance of the FUNNY BUNNY WUNNY 3000.

Tee hee!

I'm getting more and more fan mail from older kids & I love their take on the Pigeon.

Excellent Trixie drawing.

I was never good at Anatomy.

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.