Don't let the pigeon drive the bus!

Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus

Written and Illustrated by Mo Willems

Hyperion Books for Children, 2003

30 pages

Picture Books

          I chose this book because it almost received an award, the Caldecott Honor award.  My son thinks this book is so funny.  This book is about a bus driver and a pigeon who are both talking to the reader.  The bus driver has to go and run an errand and he asks that you, the reader, watch the bus.  The entire time the pigeon keeps

asking to drive the bus.  He transitions from being nice to getting angry about his request.  He starts to try and trick the reader into letting him drive the bus. 

          The illustrations in this book are done with charcoal and paint.  There is no negative space on the page; it is all filled in with some sort of color.  The text is very informal and written with the charcoal.  The different size of text is used to show his emotions.  The colors are very cool until the page that shows the pigeon getting angry with the reader.  On that page, the colors are very warm and intense.

          This book is great for younger kindergarten or first grade students.  I would use it in kindergarten to introduce the students to simple text books.  This would be very easy, and interesting, for the students to read.  For the older grades I would use this book in a language arts lesson about point of view.  It would also be good to use in a lesson about writing your own story and talk to the reader.  This book is a Caldecott Award Honor recipient.  It is a good book to make students laugh.  It would be very good for those times when you have a few minutes of  ‘teachable time’ going to and from classes or waiting on an assembly.