Wednesday, October 15, 2008

New Books by Mo Willems

I was flipping through the Hyperion 2009 spring children's catalog today and noticed this:
Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed: Coming January 6, 2009.

It's about a naked mole rat named Wilbur who likes to wear clothes. I saw a sample page in the catalog... it was pure Mo. I'm hoping to get my hands on an advance copy in the near future.

Also, two new Elephant and Piggie books are being published soon.

Are You Ready to Play Outside? Coming October 28, 2008.


Watch Me Throw the Ball!: Coming March 17, 2009.

As I've mentioned before on this blog, I'm a big Mo Willems fan. (For a goofy picture of me standing next to Mo, see this post). And I've noticed that I get two kinds of reactions to Mo at the toy/book store where I work. About half the customers are huge fans of Mo, and the other half haven't heard of him.

Why are so many people not aware of him? Because he's so new to the children's book scene.

His first book: Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus was published in March, 2003. That was only five years ago. Take a quick look at his complete bibliography, and see what he's published since.

2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009 (through March 2009)
Mo loves to use exclamation points! 14 of the books listed above (or nearly 3/4) have exclamation points in the titles!!!

By the spring of 2009, Mo will have published twenty one books. And, he's won five major awards along the way: 3 Caldecott honors, 1 Gesiel, and 1 Carnegie. Plus, the majority of his books are bestsellers. It takes many writers and illustrators a lifetime to do what he's done in five years. And let's not dismiss the six Emmys he won as an animator for Sesame Street.

Pretty unbelievable, isn't it?

Which of his books do you like? See the poll in the sidebar.

4 comments:

  1. I can't wait to see Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed! I love, love, love Leonardo the Terrible Monster. I think this may be my all time favorite picture book ever!

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  2. Thanks for the heads-up on these! :) Now I have them all situated in my preorders. :)

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  3. Hey, have you heard Mo Willems "radio cartoons" on NPR? It's an interesting concept! NPR story

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