I vividly remember the day I found my co-favorite book to read to kids,Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems. It was the Spring of 2006 and I was at the book fair for my school. As my students browsed, a busy book cover caught my eye. The title and the picture of half of a creature's face took up the entire cover, and instead of "written by," it said, "Your Pal Mo Willems Presents." I leafed through the book and was immediately taken by this amusing story. Leonardo is a "terrible" monster because he can't scare anyone like the other monsters. He decides to aim low: to make himself feel good, he'll scare an easily scared child, Sam. The book plays out exactly as you assume it will, other than an extremely hilarious tirade by Sam.
The first time I read this book, I made sure to read it in a way that captured the spirit of the characters. When I got to Sam's tirade, I channeled my "little sister" (I am the little sister in my family) and thought about how I reacted when my big sis tormented me as a kid. The students were shocked to hear me read like an eight-year-old having a major tantrum. They LOVED it and BEGGED ME to read that page again, which I did (this happens almost every time I read the book, even now). The students roared with laughter and we all took a minute to crack up.
Picking up Leonardo the Terrible Monster at that book fair probably changed my life as a literacy teacher. Suddenly, I had a new favorite author who already had great books for me to find, and who continued to publish wonderful books. I actually read Knuffle Bunny Too before the original because it came out in 2007, and love the entire Knuffle Bunny trilogy. I joke that my husband acts like the Pigeon in the Pigeon series, I absolutely love the strangeness of Edwina the Dinosaur who Didn't Know She was Extinct and Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed. It's exhilarating to see 1st graders fall in love with Elephant and Piggie because the books look like read-alouds but are also easy readers (level G/H). They truly get to read like a "teacher" when they read those books.
I really think the magic of Mo Willems books is in the way he captures kids' feelings. The feelings aren't complicated. Leonardo feels inadequate, Sam feels overlooked (and scared, of course). The pigeon wants what he wants when he wants it and can't handle not getting his way. Trixie (the protagonist of the Knuffle Bunny books) has that special thing that she needs to feel safe, special, and secure and freaks out when she doesn't have it or when she realizes it's not unique. Students relate so well to Willems' books. I've never had a student who did not enjoy it when I read one of his books.
I got to meet Mo Willems in the fall of 2010. I was in grad school at Vanderbilt in Nashville, TN. and my Children's Literature professor was moderating a panel about a children's literature documentary. Mo Willems and Jon Scieszka (author of The True Story of the Three Little Pigs and many other great books) were on the panel with the documentary's director. The panel turned into the Mo and Jon show. They are longtime friends who know how to amuse an audience (and I found out later that one of them did not like the documentary much and didn't want to spend an hour talking about it). Afterward, I attended a Mo Willems book reading and then got in line with my copy of Leonardo the Terrible Monster and a copy of Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus for my boyfriend (now husband). I was handed two post-its to write the name of the person for whom Mo would dedicate the book. When I finally got to him, he seemed cranky but also seemed to be trying his best to hide it. "Never meet your heroes," I initially thought. Later, I saw that he was at the end of a book tour for his Cat the Cat books that were first published earlier that year and he'd been away from his home and family for about a month. That would make me crabby, too.
Anyway, to complete this long, rambling post, I still have my signed copy of Leonardo the Terrible Monster. I don't let students handle it much anymore after some mishaps and because it's getting old! I still own a lot of Mo Willems books. The sequel to Leonardo, Sam the Most Scaredy-Cat Kid in the World was released a few years ago. I picked it up and loved it, but I haven't bought it yet. This weekend I put it in my Amazon cart to remind myself to buy it when the bookstores reopen in DC. If you've never read a Mo Willems book, pick one up.