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March is looking to be a great fun Month with lots of Theater all over the country, appearances in Amherst, MA and, for the first time, New Zealand! But first a quick look at last month: RECAP! What a fun month February was; starting out with a surprise call from the Geisel Committee informing me that Elephant & Piggie's WAITING IS NOT EASY! had garnered a Geisel Honor!  This was a

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,

The animated version of EDWINA THE DINOSAUR WHO DIDN'T KNOW SHE WAS EXTINCT has been released for the School and Library market by the fine folks at Weston Woods. Excellently narrated by Cher Willems with myself as Reginald Von Hoobie Doobie, the film is one of my favorites due to the hilarious animation of Pete List and the Esquivel-esque musical stylings of Scotty Huff. The DVD also comes

I usually take the summer off, but this July 21 st I'm happy to be visiting the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst MA for the World premier Screening of KNUFFLE BUNNY FREE and EDWINA THE DINOSAUR THAT DIDN'T KNOW SHE WAS EXTINCT with Q&A and Book Signing. The festivities begin at 10:30 am. I hope you'll drop by if you're in the area.  I'm really happy with both films for different

Cameraman Bob Lyons has posted some of his old animation camera work, including my first promo for Nickelodeon in 1995. This piece served as the title open and close for kid-produced shorts that ran on the network as interstitials and led to Nick being interested in my series idea, The Off-Beats. Also, thanks to you THE DUCKLING GETS A COOKIE?! spends week 10 on the NYTimes Bestseller

Weston Woods has released the last film in the Knuffle Bunny Trilogy, KNUFFLE BUNNY FREE for school and library markets. The film is really a family affair, featuring the voices of my wife, my daughter, my editor, and myself.  Animation duties on this one were given to the great Karen Villarreal, who has been working with me since the Off-Beats nearly 20 years ago. Karen really knocked this

Last week was NYC's animation society ASIFA East's 43rd annual film festival. The evening was packed with multiple generations of east coast animators, including several of my first employers back in the early 90's.  The films were, as always, a weird, fun mishmash of styles and approaches and I'm happy to report that the animated DON'T LET THE PIGEON STAY UP LATE! won 2nd place for commissioned

Looks like I'll be making a few last minute appearances in NYC this weekend: This Sunday, April 29th, is the 2nd day of the annual MoCCA festival, an indie comic fest filled with great artists, panels, comix and more.  The fest has moved from the Puck Building to the less claustrophobic Lexington Ave. Armory.  It's a great place to discover new comics and meet your cartooning heroes.

  Events are happening in schools all over New Orleans, Springfield, MA, and beyond. You can help, too! (And thanks to all that are!) All the details are here. The press release is here.  Also, if you're in Brooklyn, NY this weekend, head over to the BAM Children's Film Festival where a host of great kid films will be screened, including the animated version of NAKED MOLE

Speaking of dining room doodles, here's a recent one: Speaking of doodles.  My pal Mr. Warburton doesn't have a paper table cloth in his house, but he has a very cool way of drawing with his boys.  They both get real-life, actual grown-up sketchbooks, just like their daddy! Then both the eldest and youngest kid get together and draw with dad. Awesome! Why not draw with your family soon?

A few new Pigeon games have hit the shelves.  Hope you enjoy them: First off there's The Pigeon Wants a Puzzle! 4 in 1 Wooden Jigsaw Puzzles 4 different puzzles, each a different number of pieces, in a box! Available at your favorite toy store or here. Then there's The Pigeon Match-ominoes!   "Have endless fun with Mo Willems' Pigeon in three classic games: Matching, Bingo and Dominoes

I'll be visiting the Apple store in NYC's Upper West Side Saturday morning at 10am (if you're in the neighborhood, stop by).  Why an Apple store, instead of a book shop? Well, for the last million months or so we've been working on a Pigeon Application entitled, DON'T LET THE PIGEON RUN THIS APP! This project is, ironically, an outgrowth of my distaste for 'enhanced' digital books, which I

Many thanks to the Maryland Library Association for bestowing Elephant and Piggie's WE ARE IN A BOOK! with the 2011 Maryland Blue Crab Young Reader Award for Beginning Fiction! Librarians rock! Thanks to you HAPPY PIG DAY! will spend it's second week on the NYTimes Bestseller list at #4!  Huzzah! Thanks to Booklist for their nice review of HAPPY PIG DAY! School Library

I'm off to Pittsburg and New York for my September appearances, so I thought now would be a good time to mention next month's fun events. October is going to be a busy month for public appearances starting right off on October 1st with a very special event: SUNDAY, OCTOBER 1 Amherst,MA 11:30am            Sculpture installation, presentation, & signing at THE ERIC CARLE PICTURE BOOK

If you're in NYC this Sunday (May 1st) and are in the mood for a screening of the best of East Coast animation in the past year, I suggest you drop by The ASIFA-East Festival at The New School Tischman Auditorim 66 W. 12th St. (bet. 5th/6th Aves) NYC Show starts at 6pm, but get there early and beat the crowd. I have it on good authority that both of this years animated adaptations of

When Pigeon finds a delicious hot dog, he can’t wait to devour it. But then along comes a sly duckling who wants a bite. Who will be the more clever bird? Narrated by Mo and Trixie Willems with animation by Pete List. An ALA Notable Video. Booklist: Starred Review "The manic feathered star of the 2010 Carnegie Medal winner Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! returns in this delightful,

Here's a nice short interview with a local magazine about my work, living in a small town, and the Knuffle Bunny Musical Tour. I hope you enjoy. Speaking of local, the animated THE PIGEON FINDS A HOT DOG! will be screened in Northampton's beautiful ACADEMY OF MUSIC on Tuesday, Feb. 22nd.

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

THE MO WILLEMS CARTOON COLLECTION VOL. 1 DVD featuring the animated versions of Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Knuffle Bunny, & Leonardo the Terrible Monster is available at your favorite store or library today!Here's a review of the disk.

Someone has posted an early Sheep in the Big City commercial, the origin of the Oxymoron Line of products:

This Friday my local paper had an in-depth story about me, my work, my studio, and my new town. The piece is, in my opinion, exceptional and accurate, except that it makes me look much cooler than I actually am. (Trixie even gets a shout-out in a sidebar).I also recently chatted with local morning DJ Monte Belmonte about films, books, and the craft of animation. Monte is always great fun and

If you're in the Northampton, MA area this Sunday at 2pm, please join me at the fantastic Academy of Music downtown for Cartoon-A-Palooza!, an afternoon of my animated cartoons to benefit the Forbes Library.It'll be a fun afternoon of Sesame Street, Nickelodeon, & Cartoon Network shorts, plus the full library of animated versions of my books: Leonardo the Terrible Monster, Knuffle Bunny, Knuffle

I'm just back from a whirl-wind trip to DC for the Knuffle Bunny Musical.More on that later.Until then, here's a quick report on my recent visit to Center for Cartoon Studies and Dartmouth by the fine folks at the CCS (keep in mind I was talking to grown ups about craft, this is not really for the kiddies).I had a great time hanging out the with students, pontificating on the sins of

Unfortunately, I'll still be in DC on Sunday May 9th at 6pm, but if you're in the NYC area make plans to go the Society of Animators annual awards screening. They'll be celebrating and screening the best of East Coast animation as determined by the members voting.I have it on good authority that you'll be able to catch both the animated version of Knuffle Bunny Too and Don't Let the Pigeon Drive

I had great fun last week with the cast and crew (most of them above) for the upcoming Knuffle Bunny Musical. Seeing pal Stephanie D'Abruzzo as Trixie reminded me of the last time I cast her as a kid, 10 years ago:That's Steph with another great Sesame Street muppeteer, Fran Brill.