Genre: Picture Book
Age Level: 2-6
Summary: Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! is a Caldecott Honor Book. This picture book is specifically centered around a pigeon who is actually "begging" to drive the bus. Most of the book is focused on the pigeon and his use of persuasive techniques in order to get "you" to let him drive the bus while the bus driver is away. Does the pigeon get to drive the bus? You will have to read it to find out.
The author, Mo Willems, was also the illustrator of this book. He used simple shapes in order to portray the pigeon, who was depicted in many different ways on each page of the book. He also used little or no background color throughout the story. This gave the impression that the pigeon was all alone, as shown in the illustrations.
Reflection: I really enjoyed this book. I had heard of Mo Willems before reading this picture book, but was not too familiar with his works. I thought his techniques were very well presented. I was under the impression throughout the whole book that is was the pigeon against the world. His illustrations made that more prevalent due to the fact that the pigeon was alone on the page and also that the page was given a muted colored background. I think this type of book would be great to use with younger students in order to teach proper persuasion techniques. This book is a prime example of what you should not do in order to get your way.
Big Questions: Does the pigeon have a driver's license? Should he really be asking to drive the bus if he doesn't have a license? Why does the pigeon want to drive the bus in the first place? Would you let the pigeon drive the bus if you were the bus driver?
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