Elephants, Piggies, Triangles, Cartoonists, & Yay Richard!

It's been a crazy week of work, visiting with pals, fans, making new pals, & meeting heroes, perhaps the most fun week in my professional life to date.



NYC's Book Expo was great fun, especially as the event heralded the debut appearances of ELEPHANT AND PIGGIE as gigantic costumes.

My creations are bigger than I thought!

Piggie trades up & makes pals with Spiderman!

In addition to signings (thanks for waiting in line!) and meetings and stuff, and running into old pals like Brian Selznick, Sean & Selina Quals, Kevin Henkes, Lane Smith, Molly Leach and more,  BEA also features the "Disney Dinner", where a bunch of authors avoid talking about their latest books by roasting each other.  This year was great fun as always, especially as it was the first time we managed to get Eoin Colfer, Ridley Pearson, Dave Barry, Rick Riordan, and myself all in the same room.  To celebrate we sang our protest song "Too Many People are Writing G-D-mn Children's Books".  Rick had his folksy guitar (from his hippie days), while I accompanied on Triangle, which I played like it only had 2 sides.  Here's Dave Barry's report.  Here, one from Publisher's weekly.

"rehearsal"

I also got a great game of Pentanque in at Bryant Park.
 
Then it was off to Boston for the National Cartoonist Society Ruebens  convention where the family hung out with great pals like Patrick McDonnell, Hilary Price, Charlie Kochman, Stephan Pastis, Jerry Scott, Lincoln Pierce, Jeff Kiney and more.  We also met and hung with the great Sergio Aragones, Arnold Roth,  Mike Luckovitch, Jeff Keane and more!  Wow! I even got to introduce a former employer, R.O. Blechman as he received a lifetime achievement award for his work.
 

But the night belonged to pal Richard Thompson who was awarded cartooning's highest honor, the Reuben Award.  The announcement at the end of a long evening of comedy and awards brought the house to its feet.  Rock on, Richard!

 

Thanks to you, HOORAY FOR AMANDA AND HER ALLIGATOR! spends week 4 on the Indie Bestseller list.  Thanks, you!

 Oh, and here's a fun radio interview with WAMC's The Roundtable about Amanda and other books.

Now to clean up the office and get back to work.

¡La Paloma encuentra un perro caliente! Publishes today!

¡La paloma ha vuelto! Y ¡encontró un perro caliente! Pero un hambriento (y muy astuto) patito entra en escena y quiere un bocado. ¿Cuál de los dos será el más listo?

Por primera vez, Mo Willems y su libro mas vendido en las listsa del New York Times, The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog!  esta disponible en español para un nuevo grupo de niños que seguramente les encantara esta historia.

The Spanish Language version of The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog! available in the States starting right now!

Available at your favorite book store or library or here.

I'm off!

I'm off to NYC for the Book Expo fun (my schedule is here, scroll down) and Boston for the National Cartoonist Society annual bash where I'll be introducing animation and illustration legend (and former boss) R O Blechman as I present him with the Milton Caniff Lifetime Acheivement Award.
 
Should be great fun, especially since I can wear a tuxedo with pants and cheer for my pal Robert Thompson.  He's nominated for this year's Ruben for best cartoonist.

See you on the flip-side.

Oh, and if you want to see a very young me dressed up as R O in a short film, here's your chance.

Jon Muth & I interviewed

Here's an interview with the folks at the comic-book review site Newsarama with myself and Jon Muth talking about the process behind City Dog, Country Frog.

We did this one a while ago and it was fun to revisit my chat with Jon.  Such a good guy.




If you want to hear us talking about the book, check out this older podcast with the New York Times.



Thanks to you, Hooray for Amanda and Her Alligator! spends its 3rd week on the Indie Bestseller List at #5.  Thanks you!

Oh, and here's a fun cartoon interview I did on Amanda for BookPage:

New Metal Sculpture!

My latest piece of metal work is, like the window guard, a utilitarian sculpture; it's the Poop Devil:

The teeth help rip the toilet paper!

So much fun to make!

ABC Silent Auction

One of the highlights of Book Expo America in NYC next week is a party and silent auction to benefit independent Kids bookstores. (I've heard rumors of an on-line auction as well, but have no details).

This year they've posted some of the great work available for auction, including mine, an original frame of Elephant and Piggie from a comic strip I recently did for McSweeney's.

 It is a ticketed event, but I hope to see you there.  I'll be bidding on stuff, for sure.

(click to enlarge)

I love foreign editions!

Japanese version of City Dog, Country Frog has arrived in the studio.  Fantastic!



Speaking of City Dog, the American version of the book is up for a Charlotte Award (that's the NY State book award voted on by real kids!)

As part of the pre-award hoopla, I was interviewed by Mrs. Pegeen Jensen’s first graders at Saddlewood Elementary in Albany.  They had some very insightful questions, as you can see for yourself.


Oh, and here's a fun interview with a grown up at Texas Public Radio's Some Books Considered.

Meet the Knuffle Bunny Cast!

The wonderful cast of Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical will be making a NYC appearance this Friday (May 20th) at 7pm in the 86th and Lexington Barnes and Noble.



They'll be singing a few songs and signing a copies of the new Special Edition Knuffle Bunny book that includes the original Kennedy Center Cast Album.

Drop by and say, "Aggle Flaggle Klabble" for me.

Thanks to you...

Hooray for Amanda and Her Alligator! spends it's second week on the New York Times Bestseller List (chapter book) at #8.  It's also on the the National Indie List (children's interest) at #6 for it's 2nd week!

Thanks, you.

Here's an interview with People.com about Amanda.


 

I am also pleased a punch to report that Elephant and Piggie's WE ARE IN A BOOK! has been given Page Ahead's Best Book Award.  If you're in the Seattle area, check them out.  They do great work.
 

SLJ Loves Elephant and Piggie, so does Scripps!

Two great reviews for two books about two best pals!

 In a starred review, School Library Journal praise's Elephant and Piggie's I BROKE MY TRUNK!, saying:

"The style may now be familiar, but the “Elephant and Piggie” stories remain fresh, amusing, and relevant to readers, who will sit on the edge of their seats as they eagerly anticipate the surprising turn of events. A winning addition to the series."

Over at the Scripps Howard News service, early readers are reviewed including Elephant and Piggie's upcoming dilemma drama, SHOULD I SHARE MY ICE CREAM?  They remark:

"Author/illustrator Mo Willems knows how to really tickle the funny bones of both children and adults... Both the text and illustrations in this book reflect Willems' mastery of comic timing, and his ability to say so much with so few words and lines."

The Fredericksburg Post also likes Elephant and Piggie.

Awesome!

SHOULD I SHARE MY ICE CREAM? hits the shelves in mid June.

The Dragon Ate my Homework (Am I in Heaven?)- Yay Fan Mail!

The old mailbag was stuffed with this month's fan mail, so without further ado, here are some great Fan Mail Favorites!

Let's start simple:

Simple and to the point.

 Knuffle Bunny and pals get some love:

The Knuffle Bunny Stamp!

Action Pose!

'

Digital version of me, you and Knuffle Bunny!

So much emotion!

Idea for a new Knuffle Adventure.

Leonardo finds a friend in Knuffle Bunny.

The whole family!

Nice Leonardo the Terrible Monster!

How cool is that?

Meet the Authors

Bulked up Gerald

Edwina the Dinosaur!

 

Everyone is happy except Dad!

Now THAT's a costume!

This is a very cool portrait of me done by Brooklyn kids in the style of Chuck Close!

Tee Hee!

Just say 'no'!

The Pigeon dreams of lego....

Thank YOU!

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.