Mo Willems

Professions :

Writer

Born :

February 11, 1968

If you ever find yourself in the wrong story, leave. by Mo Willems

If you ever find yourself in the wrong story, leave.

leaving self stories

The difference between children and adults is that they're shorte... by Mo Willems

The difference between children and adults is that they're shorter - not dumber.

adults differences children

All of the life-changing awesome words and pictures and ideas inside your library are useless without just one word outside your library: Open.

library life-changing ideas

When you make a decision, you don't have to be locked into it. One of the ways that you grow is by starting over.

starting-over decision

A book, being a physical object, engenders a certain respect that zipping electrons cannot. Because you cannot turn a book off, because you have to hold it in your hands, because a book sits there, waiting for you, whether you think you want it or not, because of all these things, a book is a friend. It’s not just the content, but the physical being of a book that is there for you always and unconditionally.

book hands thinking

The first bowl of chocolate pudding was too hot, but Goldilocks ate it all anyway because, hey, it's chocolate pudding, right?

chocolate pudding hot

My favorite book is my next one. I’m always hoping to make my nex... by Mo Willems

My favorite book is my next one. I’m always hoping to make my next book my best one.

next my-favorite book

Writing for children is as easy as describing the history of the... by Mo Willems

Writing for children is as easy as describing the history of the Byzantium in three words.

byzantium writing children

An artist is waiting for the audience to understand the work. A craftsman is working to understand the audience.

craftsman artist waiting

A picture book is a motorcycle: small, loud, fun, and zippy. by Mo Willems

A picture book is a motorcycle: small, loud, fun, and zippy.

sexy fun book

Elephant and Piggie have a very large input. They have a distinct aesthetic taste. They like books that are philosophical. They like books that are dialogue-driven. They like books that are about issues that they live with, in their own elephantine and porcine ways.

aesthetic philosophical book

Aggle flabble kabble . . . snurp? by Mo Willems

Aggle flabble kabble . . . snurp?

When you make a decision, you don't have to be locked into it. One of the ways that you grow is by starting over. There are all kinds of really powerful things in that moment, which is what makes story work. Part of Laurie's Keller personality is this ability to revise, to come back and to look at things from a different angle. I don't want to tell stories too much out of school, but Laurie Keller is the only person who sent me a card on my birthday and then sent me a revision.

starting-over powerful school

I bet your mom would let me." -Pigeon, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive... by Mo Willems

I bet your mom would let me." -Pigeon, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus-

pigeons bus mom

I always say, 'Books beat boredom,' said Amanda wisely. by Mo Willems

I always say, 'Books beat boredom,' said Amanda wisely.

boredom beats book

Kids are super-independent. This is the time when you don't need your parents for a story anymore. You have a great degree of agency and independence.

independence parent kids

I also learn a lot about everybody else's process. People create in different ways, so that has opened me up to different processes and experimenting. Laurie Keller is a character person, so she came to the project with these blades-of-grass characters that we were able to literally grow a story around.

different character people

I've been lucky enough to have made enough of these types of children's books that while I don't necessarily know what works, I know what doesn't work. I've got a sense of the rhythm and the form. With this series, I get to play with ideas that I would never have myself.

lucky enough book

I think Laurie's Keller story 'We are growing', resonates because when you have that amount of independence, you're starting to ask yourself questions that the grownups in your life have been answering for you. Before that, you are a good kid, or you are a funny kid, because you're told that's who you are. But when it's just you and the book, you have to figure out who you are.

kids book thinking

The common thread of the series is that these are the books that Elephant and Piggie like to read. Elephant and Piggie are retired, so this is what they do in their spare time. What will they end up wanting to read? Time will tell. We've got to let that evolution happen as the series goes on. Any return of a character would have to be organic, would have to be, for example, Laurie Keller saying, hey, I really want to do this, and me feeling that there's a story there, rather than just saying, yeah, we can get three books out of these characters.

feelings character book

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