I tried my best to be professional

So, Lovely Hubby thinks this might make for a silly post, but I'm of the mindset that some of you who take time out of your day to read my blatherings have been patient enough through all my talk about getting to interview Mo Willems and are now thinking... well, what did he say, already?? Mind you, I prepared just four questions, because I honestly had no idea how long they'd give me to chat with him, so I didn't want to appear too eager (or insane). While I wanted to come up with completely original, never-before-asked questions, I'm pretty sure he's been asked just about everything about his books, so this is what I ended up with.

After he walked into the Media Tent, the wonderful National Book Festival event staff were looking out for me (Jason and Monica were seriously incredible and kind to me!!), and I was brought over to Mo and officially introduced. Now, I have to say that as a SAHM who hangs out with her kids and pals every day, I don't hear my first and last name being thrown around a whole lot, like other people who spend their days in professional settings must be used to. So, when Mo responded to my introduction by loudly and enthusiastically repeating my name, I did indeed laugh out loud... blame it on my crazy nerves at that point. After explaining my role with 5 Minutes for Books, as well as my former life as a preschool teacher and my current life as a mom, I gushed for a bit about how much enjoyment his books have brought in all those roles. Then we sat down in the chairs, I pushed record on the little audio-recorder-doohickey-thingy, and here's our conversation (slightly edited, to fix a couple Sarah Palin-like ramblings of mine):

Me, 5M4B/extreme fan: "I've always appreciated being the teacher reading the book, or being the mom, and knowing that for as much as the children were entertained by it, I was too. When you're writing, are you thinking, 'Oh, moms are going to get this part?'"

Mo, author/illustrator extraordinaire: "Well, funny is funny. I think about my audience and my audience is both what you would consider the audience and the orchestra. So, if the orchestra is enjoying what they're playing, it's going to sound better. If you get to play Beethoven's Fifth, you're going to get into it, and if you get to play, well I'm not going to name a terrible concert... but nonetheless. So, yes, there's an awareness. Unfortunately, I can't communicate directly with my audience, because I write for illiterates." (A ridiculous giggle of mine edited out here.)

Me: "They need someone to convey it for you."

Mo: "Yes, so, the more that they enjoy it, the more the book will seem enjoyable."

Me: "We know that you obviously have the experiences with your own daughter, but the "going boneless" (from Knuffle Bunny, of course)- as soon as I read that, I thought, oh yes, I know this."

Mo: "That's my wife's line, so I can take no credit for it. I thought it was a common expression because my wife used it all the time, and we put it in the book, but it turns out that it wasn't, so I got very lucky with it."

Me: "Are there particular books, whether it's your books or other books, that you're really enjoying reading as a parent with your own daughter right now?"

Mo: "Sure, sure. My daughter is a very hard-core reader, and my wife as well, particularly for sort of YA and chapter books. Even though my daughter is somewhat precocious in her reading, we do try to read out loud together, and for me, it's comic books, so it's Bone, Tintin, Castle Waiting, Calvin and Hobbes, that's what I read with my daughter. And then you know the Little House on the Prairie to Rick Riordan stuff that either Trixie reads on her own or in tandem with her mom, so we go back and forth."

Me: "I have a 9 year old and he's been reading on his own forever, but we still try to read together, too."

Mo: "Yeah, I think it's great. I think it's important. I should probably do it with my wife!"

Me: "Ha! I don't think my husband wants to hear me read! So, my goal in this is was to ask you questions that you didn't get asked again and again, but this is probably one that you do. Do you have some list at home where you just write "Hey, a mole rat!" that would make a good character? A list where you're coming up with some potentially future characters?"

Mo: "I'm always coming up with stuff, but whether it's good enough to turn into a book, that comes over time. Sometimes characters come very quickly, I think Naked Mole Rat came very quickly because it's a funny expression, so you just take that and then figure out who they are. Leonardo took 15 years to write. So yeah, I'm always thinking of something. I put out a sketchbook every year for clients and friends and those usually entail stories that are either too adult, too weird, too noncommercial, or not fleshed out enough that wouldn't make a proper book. Having ideas is not the problem! Having the time to make them good is. You know, writing is easy, rewriting is hard."

Me: "Well, I think that every character that you've created has a unique personality."

Mo: "Oh that's very kind, I appreciate that."

Me: "After spending ten years with four-year-olds, the Pigeon was perfect. I'd open it and see children I knew!"

Mo: "That was originally a sketchbook, and that was written for adults originally. Kids actually happen to be members of the same species as we are, so I don't really think of that much of a separation. I just can't talk about cultural modifiers, but otherwise, I think we're all equally venal. I don't think that changes."

Me: "It's something that we can all relate to."

Mo: "Yeah, we can relate to our venal, yelling sides."

Me: "My kids love each of the books' 'freaking out' pages."

Mo: "Yes, that's right. The Mo Willems' Freak Out Page. Obviously I'm not very fun to be with at home."

Me: "My kids could very much relate to that. When Pigeon first came out, my son and I would ride the university shuttle to the school where I worked and he attended, and we would read Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus on the bus, and college students were entertained."

Mo: "That's great. Very cool. Awesome."

Me: "Do you have a favorite of your characters? Is that like picking a favorite kid? Does it change every day?"

Mo: "It's like having a favorite child in that, you know, some of them grow up to be disappointments, but you can't say that in public. You have to say that you love them all equally. So yes, absolutely, they are like my children. Um... the end."

Me: "Gotcha. Well, I know with having three kids, I have favorites at different hours."

Mo: "I'm not a good judge of taste. It's not my job to figure out what's good, it's just my job to do it, and that really is my audience's job to figure out. I usually despise my books for the first six months that they're out."

Me: "REALLY?!" (The note of incredulousness is painfully obvious in my response.)

Mo: "Yeah, yeah, I dread it."

Me: "So how are you feeling about Big Frog?"

Mo: "I hate it. Hate it. Absolutely hate everything about it."

Me: "It's a book that my 1-year-old loves and wants to read, and I say, 'Mommy needs to sit with you, because you're not going to tear up my book, buddy!'"

Mo: "Well, with Naked Mole Rat, it's been how long is it? Nine months? I'm starting to like a little."

Me: "That's one that we love!"

Mo: "That's great, I'm glad."

Me: "Thank you so much for this!"

Mo: "Great to meet you."

At the end there, Mo was kind enough to sign my copy of Big Frog Can't Fit In, complete with a little froggy face and his signature MO! At that point, JAM came over and told him that he was wearing his Pigeon shirt that Mo had signed on the back of the shoulder in January at the book signing we went to (when he told him that it said Jon Scieszka!). Mo asked JAM- "Now, you're not the one who was crying, right?" which made JAM giggle in his starstruck-just-like-his-mom way. After our group pic, which is really good enough to post again, we said our goodbyes, and I went off for the rest of what turned out to be a fantastic day.



Huge thanks to Mo Willems for taking the time out of his busy day to chat with me, and to his publicist and the NBF event staff for helping make it happen.


Apparently able to conduct an interview without falling out of my chair with excitement,