Yesterday, the Kennedy Center announced their upcoming season which includes a new comission, Elephant and Piggie's WE ARE IN A PLAY! I've been working and writing on the piece for almost a year now in semi-secrecy. The team during our first workshop at Knuffle Manor in May of 2012. That's me, composer Deborah Wicks La Puma, KC big wig Kim Kovac, and dramaturg Megan Alrutz. Deborah

It's always nice when you are sent preview copies of your work.  Holding something in your hands is so much fun after having seen projects in bits, pieces, and printouts. Here are some fun things (upcoming and available now) that have recently arrived at the studio. My preview copy of THAT IS NOT A GOOD IDEA!, which will hit the shelves this April.  The production on this volume is amazing;

Turns out that GOLDILOCKS AND THE THREE DINOSAURS has been awarded the Sid Fleischman Award for Humor by SCBWI! What a great thing for there to even be an award for humor and what a greater thing that it be named after humorist Sid Fleischman and what an even greater thing that, somehow, Goldilocks managed to be recognized. Some past winners have been pal's books, all have been funny,

Here is another sampling of dining room dinner doodles from the past month or so. As you can see, each member of the Willems' clan is doing their own thing (my daughter, faces; my wife, abstracts; myself, I have no clue) and having a great time doing it! 2 parallel lines will never meet... Love this one!

On Tuesday, I visited the Peck School in Holyoke, MA as part of the Friendiversary Celebrations that give a book to every 2nd grader in a participating Title 1 school in New Orleans, Springfield, MA, & Holyoke thanks to the help of First Book. A great time was had reading and answering questions.  Even Mayor Alex Morse dropped by (he had attended Peck school when he was a kid). The full

Pal Rick Riordan and I will be keynote speakers in April for the IRA convention in San Antonio . In anticipation of our talks, Reading Today Magazine has an interview that we conducted with each other.  It's always fun to chat with Rick, even when we're not being recorded.  I hope you enjoy the conversation.

Thanks to the fine folks at Publishers Weekly for their starred review of the upcoming upcoming THAT IS NOT A GOOD IDEA! They say: "Trust Willems to blend silents, animation, and comics for a wickedly droll poultry-in-peril yarn." The whole review is here. Yay!  Also, Indie booksellers put out a list of books their very excited about for every season, and I'm happy to say that

Every year kids across the nation get to vote for their favorite picture book via the Bank Street School's Irma Black Awards. I love a program that allows actual picture book readers to have their voices heard. This year it looks like two of the four nominees are THE DUCKLING GETS A COOKIE!? and GOLDILOCKS AND THE THREE DINOSAURS.  I'm flattered to have so much of my work represented.

It has been a tradition at Knuffle Manor (and before that Brooklyn's Pigeon's Nest) to throw a big party once a year to celebrate the efforts of those "behind the scenes" who insure that my books, animated films, and other projects get out into the world looking a good as possible. Still before the storm I am the first to admit that when it comes to my work, I need a lot of help. 

In addition to a note of appreciation to the Geisel Comittee for selecting LET'S GO FOR A DRIVE! as an honor book, I made a little video for them:   Here is last year's video: Thanks, Geisel Guys!

Woof. Sad news at Knuffle Manor.   After celebrating a happy 14th birthday at the beginning of the   month, our dog Nelson suddenly took ill and passed away after my return from the road last week. Nelson was a great companion and friend to all, always ready to help my writing by taking a long walk or protect me from my rage at a malfunctioning printer by sitting on my lap.  He was also an

Some really fun stuff in this month's Fan Mail Favorites! I love to see my characters being put through their paces by these amazing young artists and thinkers! (click the images to enlarge them) I have, on occasion, had this very problem. Love the bookshelf behind me. This template is taken from the DON'T LET THE PIGEON FINISH THIS ACTIVITY BOOK! Great portrait

The Knuffle Manor Studio has joined up with the fine Folks at First Book to celebrate another Friendiversary, where every 2nd grader in participating Title 1 schools in New Orleans, Springfield MA, and Holyoke MA will walk home with their very own First Book edition of an Elephant and Piggie adventure. This expanding project is something the we've been doing for 6 years (3 with First Book) as

I'm back from a great trip, digging out (literally & email-i-ally) from the avalance of stuff that I need to attend to. So, quickly: Thanks to everyone who came out to MoMA, SCBWI, The Grove in LA, & Sketchfest in SF.  Every appearance was great fun and very different, Here's an image of the DON'T LET THE COMEDIANS DO STORYTIME! class picture.  As you can see Patton was upset he didn't get to

The Civic Theater of Lafayette Indiana is mounting a production of KNUFFLE BUNNY: A CAUTIONARY MUSICAL that runs from Feb. 15th - 17th.  If you're in the area, don't miss: The Music! The Laughs! The Laundry! Details are here.

Hello, this is my past self dropping in a little post. If the future has gone as planned, I've just finished speaking at the SCBWI conference in NYC where I discussed "How to Write in 4 Easy Steps, 4 Kinda Harder Steps, and 1 Pretty Much Impossible Step". As promised, here are my 9 steps to writing in descending order of difficulty: (click on the image to enlarge) Happy writing!

I'm off for a quick visit to NYC, LA, & SF. I hope you'll drop by one of the events if you're in the neighborhood!  And don't forget to Tune into West Coast Live on Saturday Feb. 9th (or come by the show in San Francisco and see it live).  I'll be talking about the comedy show and mo'. Pal, Dave Barry will also be doing his thing.  It should be fun. (Note the San Francisco Sketchfest show,

As we get set to celebrate the 10th anniversary of DON'T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS! I've got some fun appearances coming up in the beginning of February. Please join me if you can. Here is the schedule as it stands (remember to check with the venues regarding signing policies, etc): NEW YORK CITY Sat. Feb 2 at 11am, MoMA Store, Soho, 81 Spring Street, New York, NY So, Mo at SoHo

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

Just got this in the mail: Eric Carle sent me a doodle: So, I made him a doodle back: Why not make a doodle for a pal? It's always a wonderful surprise! (Eric's doodle is part of his introduction for this summer's upcoming art book: Don't Pigeonhole Me!: Two Decades of the Mo Willems Sketchbook)

A fun batch in this month's mailbag, including a bunch of hilariously good persuasive letters. (click to enlarge each image) Huzzah! Please note the Fan Mail address has changed.  It is now: Mo Willems Fan Mail c/o Ricardo Mejias  Hyperion Books for Children (and Pigeons) 1133

The San Francisco Chronicle has a nice piece about the upcoming SF Sketchfest and it's history, which includes many pals performing over the next few weeks and my first kids-sketch show, Don't Let the Comedians Do Storytime! The Irish Magazine, Inis, has an illustrated interview with me about my characters (I'll be visiting Ireland again later this fall).  Also, check out this great

This April will be the 10th Anniversary of the publication of DON'T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS! and to celebrate this spring Hyperion is publishing collection of 3 Pigeon books (DON'T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS!, THE PIGEON FINDS A HOTDOG!, & DON'T LET THE PIGEON STAY UP LATE!) in a collection entitled IT'S A BUSLOAD OF PIGEON BOOKS! I just received my preview copy and I'm really excited!

I was awakened last night by a phone call with the most wonderful news, the American Library Association's Geisel Committee has awarded Elephant and Piggie's LET'S GO FOR A DRIVE! a Geisel Honor!  ALA has been very generous regarding my books, Elephant and Piggie's in particular.  But, I must say that every time I get the call it's more exciting than the last time. The honor feels all the