fantastic new Mo Willems video interview

If you like Mo Willems or his books (Leonardo, the Terrible Monster; Edwina, The Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct; Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!; Knuffle Bunny), then you might want to check out the fantastic video interview with him, for his new book Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity.

The interview made me like him all the more. He said some things I really relate to. When asked where his unique humor comes from, he said: “A lifetime of suffering. One of the things, actually, is the insight … that childhood is not always a happy place. And that there are real failures and real failings and you can find humor in that. … Particularly when I was a child, all the characters where these joyous bunnies and, you know, incredibly excitable mice and I wasn’t happy so I felt guilty that I wasn’t as happy as a rodent.”

I love it when authors and illustrators are honest and have some deep things to say, or things that take some courage to say. Things that feel real, and that I can identify with. I don’t yet know how to turn my own pain into humor, but I love that Willems can and does. It’s inspiring.

Willems also tells readers how to pronounce “Knuffle.” It’s “kuh-nuffle.” But he says that if you buy his book you can pronounce it any way you like.

So go watch the interview; I bet you’ll enjoy it! Thanks to Farida at Saints and Spinners for this great link.

Leonardo, the Terrible Monster and Edwina: The Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct by Mo Willems are some of my top favorite picture books. If you’re curious, you can read my reviews of Leonardo the Terrible Monster and Edwina: The Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct.

October 26th, 2007