Image Credit: Marty Umans
This 01 April 2013 was the 10th birthday of this famous blue pigeon. There is an article about him written in this blog: http://mowillemsdoodles.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/happy-birthday-pigeon.html
Mo Willems is one of my favorite picture book artists. He writes and draws for his books all by himself. These are his books I had fun reading and looking at the pictures. The ones about:
1) The Pigeon series (It is funny to watch the pigeon struggle to do what he wants.)
2) The Elephant and Piggie series (No matter what happens, this elephant and pig will always be best friends. Or maybe not?)
3) The Knuffle Bunny series (Readers will witness how important the bunny is to the little girl.)
4) The dressy Mole Rat (An amazing tale of a dressed mole rat that shocked the naked mole rats.)
5) Edwina the dinosaur (Edwina meets a school boy who tries to explain to her that dinosaurs are extinct. Does that bug her?)
6) Leonardo the monster (Even if this is a terrible monster, there's something good about him.)
If you observe carefully, you will find the blue pigeon hidden in the other books that are not about the same bird. It became my habit to look for him. Seriously.
I admire picture book authors who can put their own words and pictures together. Dr Seuss did. So did Mo Willems. It is a bonus when these artists show their own brand of humor and wit.
I am not condemning imitation. I'm aware it is part of the learning process of being a prolific original. If babies imitate the speech patterns around them and live to be originals, so do budding artists who make sketches of existing works. I'm glad artists like Dr Seuss and Mo Willems were able to let go of imitating and head towards the road to being first rate originals.
If you are in the process of imitating your favorite celebrity, I hope one day you will let go of copying and allow yourself to shine being the best you that you can be.
Thank you, Mr Willems, for sharing with us your passion in creating picture books, that bring cheer to the young and the young at heart. Thank you for being you.
:-( -> :-| -> :-)
DL
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"Let us rise up and be thankful; for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so let us all be thankful."
--Buddha
