This week Mr Moo and I have been reading Mo Willems’ Knuffle Bunny books at bed time and we are both loving them.
Mo Willems is an American childrens’ author, illustrator and animator. Before writing his fantastic children’s books, Willems spent ten years working on Sesame Street and won no less than six Emmys for his efforts. His books are clever, funny and, well, just different from your everyday kids’ books.
Knuffle Bunny (pronounced Kuh-nuffle) and Knuffle Bunny Too tell the stories of two landmark events in the life of Trixie ( our heroine) and her favourite toy (the eponymous Knuffle Bunny). In the first book, Trixie and her daddy take a trip to the laundromat where the unfortunate Knuffle Bunny goes missing. The story describes how Trixie, who is unable to talk at this stage, tries to let her daddy know that something is wrong. In the second book, Trixie takes her ‘one-of-a-kind’ Knuffle Bunny to school to show her friends only to discover that her classmate Sonja also has a Knuffle Bunny. Just when you think Trixie’s day couldn’t get any worse, she ends up going home with the wrong bunny and only discovers the mix up in the middle of the night.
Willems animates the books himself by superimposing funky cartoons on to black and white photos of real backdrops (streetscapes, classrooms, laundromats etc), it sounds a little odd but I really like it. Written installments of the story appear as usual on each page but there is so much more to these tales than just the words – the illustrations add so much and in places tell parts of the story which the words do not. Willems’ writing is subtle, clever and above all, very amusing. His language truly reflects that of children and their often exasperated parents and his descriptions are genius, for example, see the below extract from Knuffle Bunny:
Isn’t ‘boneless’ the best description for that thing that all young children do…one minute you are holding the hand of a happy toddler, the next they are howling, its as though some one has removed their skeleton and you are left hanging on to a mass of limp flesh that won’t walk, sit or respond in any way to your desperate pleas for rigidity. Another favourite extract is from Knuffle Bunny Too when Trixie marches into her parents bedroom in the middle of the night to demand their assistance ..”Trixie’s daddy tried to explain what 2.30am means”. Both Knuffle Bunny books have won Caldecott Honors and both have appeared in the New York Times Bestsellers’ List (so its not just me who likes them!). They are currently £4.67 for Knuffle Bunny and £5.24 for Knuffle Bunny Too so give them a go. They would make lovely presents too.
Willems also writes the Pigeon series of books which are really fantastic. These are short books following the adventures of a determined, self-assured and yet endearing bird called, well, called ‘The Pigeon’. The animations are so simple and yet often hilarious and The Pigeon’s dialogue is really clever. These books all involve the reader (its your responsibility not to let The Pigeon to stay up late etc) and having the characters talk directly to you adds a lovely dimension to these books which Mr Moo just adores. The extracts below will give you an idea of what to expect.
Have a look at the pigeons’ attempt to pursuade you to let him stay up late and drive the bus (below):
The board book versions of Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay up Late, Don’t let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, The Pigeon Has Feelings Too and The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog are super value (ranging between £3.56 and £3.65). These really are great little books.
Check out the Mo Willems website, its choc full of good stuff.
