Any parent who's helped to instill a love of reading in their child knows the heart-inflating pleasure of watching them delight in a favorite book. Sometimes, though, that initial delight has a tendency to turn into exasperation after the millionth time reading it aloud. But that doesn't seem to be the case with Mo Willems' beloved picture books, thankfully.
Elephant and Piggie visited Storytime!
We shared stories by one of our favorite authors, Mo Willems, along with friends from the Kansas Children's Discovery Center, who's hosting The Pigeon Comes to Topeka! A Mo Willems Exhibit through next January.
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While the demand for yet another read-through of Knuffle Bunny, or a Piggie and Elephant or Pigeon book will most definitely be reiterated — again and again, well past bedtime, at every bedtime — it's apparent that Willems' masterful ability for balancing whimsy, wit, and wisdom in his stories tends to work magic on parents, too.
Perhaps here's a clue as to why, in the words of Willems himself:
"I'm very lucky to write for children, because I don't have to deal with popular culture. I can just deal with core fundamental issues: jealousy, love, hatred, sadness, joy, wanting to drive a bus. The fundamental core emotional things. And just asking questions like, 'How do you know when you're in control? What is a friend? What are relationships between people?' These are all things that I haven't figured out yet. I'm very lucky in that I don't understand the world yet. If I understood the world, it would be harder for me to write these books."
