Mo Willems Author Study

• English
• 1st Grade

Mo Willems

Author's Study

Emma Lawson

CEE 365

Mo Willems: Author's Study

Emma Lawson

CEE 365

Author's Life

• Mo Willems was born on February 11, 1968 in Des Plaines, Illinois.
• Shortly after his birth, his family moved to New Orleans, Louisiana. New Orleans is where Mo Willems grew up. 
• As a child, he began to draw cartoons, and he never quit.
• Willems attended New York University pursuing a degree in animation.
• Willems travelled around the world for a year after graduating in 1990.

Author's Career

• Mo Willems's career launched in 1994 when he began working as a writer for Sesame Street. He continued to work there until 2002. 
• The first children's book that Willems published was Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!  
• Willems has released a few popular series of picture books, such as the Pigeon series, Elephant and Piggie, and Knuffle Bunny, and individual picture books. 

The next slide contains a video of a read aloud of

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! 

The next slide contains a video of a read aloud of

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!

Author's Inspiration and Beliefs

• Mo Willems was inspired at a young age to draw by Charles Schulz, the creator of "Peanuts."
• Further into his career, he was inspired by Saul Steinberg, a cartoonist; Alexander Calder, a sculptor; and Monty Python, a comedy troupe. 
• For one of his books, Knuffle Bunny, Willems was inspired by his own daughter, Trixie. 
• Willems believes that children should have a big imagination, be able to draw the simple drawings from his books, and aims for kids to write their own stories. 

The video below is Willems's first episode of "Lunch Doodles" where he walks the audience through how he doodles to create a character.

Spin the wheel to pick a character to draw from Willems's picture books!

 The genre mostly identified in Mo Willems's books is fiction.

 The overarching theme of his books includes being a good friend, identifying emotions, and   managing those emotions.  

Drag the possible themes of Mo Willems's books into the "Possible Themes" box.

Genre and Theme

Possible Themes

Friendship

Perseverance

Money

Empathy

Farming

Patience

Awards the Author has Received

Caldecott Honor	Time Magazine's 10 Best Children's Books for 2005	Book Sense Book of the Year Honor Book in 2006	Carnegie Medals	Theodor Seuss Geisel	NAPPA Award Winner
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!	Leanardo, the Terrible Monster	Leanardo, the Terrible Monster	Knuffle Bunny	There Is a Bird on Your Head	Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!
Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale			Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!	Are You Ready to Play Outside?
Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity				We Are in a Book!

Before Mo Willems even began his children's picture book career, he was awarded six Emmy Wards for his work with Sesame Street.

Willems received the following awards for his outstanding picture books:

Click on each book to read the theme!

Waiting can be hard, but good things can result from waiting.

Everyone feels nervous before starting school, but worrying does more harm than good. 

Do not judge anyone based on their outward appearance.

How many Emmy Awards did Mo Willems receive?

1. 3
2. 1
3. 6
4. 9

Connecting Willems's Books to Teaching Children

• Children will practice literacy skills, such as print referencing and print recognition, punctuation, sight word vocabulary, comprehension, and compare/contrast.
• Other content areas: 

Science- Astronomy

Math- Measurement 

Social Studies- Cultural awareness

Art- Creative responses

Music- Instruments

Patterns Within the Books

Characters are the same

Simple text and pictures

Has an overarching theme

Spin the wheel to pick what book to read!

Appealing Features

• Pastel colors
•  Animal characters
• Text bubbles
• Different size print to express emotion
• Different perspectives of characters

Comprehension Center Lesson

Materials: Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs, character and setting sheet, pictures from the story, pencil, crayons, gluesticks, and copy paper.

Standard: 

ELA 23. Identify and describe the main story elements in a literary text.

a. Describe the characters and settings, using illustrations and textual evidence from a story.

Objective: Students will name the characters, describe the setting, and sequence the order of the story.

Mathematics 22. Compose two-dimensional shapes... to create a composite shape, and compose new shapes from the composite shape.

Objective: Students will construct a bed using 2D shapes on their paper.

Center Lesson Procedure

1.  Prepare materials for students.
2.  Hand out the character/setting/plot sheet.
3.  Explain to students that they will be writing the name of each character, describing the setting, and writing what happened at the beginning, middle, and end of the story. 
4.  For the students who need accommodations, hand out the cut-out pictures of the characters, setting, and parts of the plot. These students can sort the pictures to the correct character/setting/plot box and glue it in place. 
5.  As an extension, students will draw and color a bed that would fit them just right using only 2D shapes.

Resources

Awards & honors. Mo Willems. (n.d.). Retrieved March 23, 2022, from https://mowillems.weebly.com/awards--honors.html 

Biography. Mo Willems. (n.d.). Retrieved March 22, 2022, from https://mowillems.weebly.com/biography.html 

Courses of study : English language arts (grade 1). ALEX. (n.d.). Retrieved March 23, 2022, from https://alex.state.al.us/standardAll.php?grade=1&subject=ELA2021&summary=2 

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). Mo Willems. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved March 23, 2022, from https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/Mo-Willems/627844 

Hartigan, P. (2015, June 15). Mo Willems aims to inspire kids to write their stories - The Boston Globe. BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved March 23, 2022, from https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/books/2015/06/14/mowillems/WfFwJPU2ruPT7nozMPLtKK/story.html#:~:text=Willems%2C%20who%20grew%20up%20in,as%20well%20as%20by%20Schulz. 

Resources

Pigeonpresents.com content uploads 2017 08 EP_Teachers-Kit_FINAL_2.PDF: Teachers, Mo Willems, content. Pinterest. (2018, February 19). Retrieved March 23, 2022, from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/pigeonpresentscom-content-uploads-2017-08-ep_teacherskit_final_2pdf--285134220142170452/ 

Reading Pioneers Academy. (2019, January 10). Don't let the Pigeon Drive the bus read aloud - youtube. YouTube. Retrieved March 23, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-dHeNfXtgc 

The Kennedy Center. (2020, March 16). Lunch doodles with mo willems! episode 01 - youtube. YouTube. Retrieved March 23, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmzjCPQv3y8