Don’t Pigeonhole Me! [Two Decades of the Mo Willems Sketchbook].

WILLEMS, Mo [Foreword by Eric Carle].

Item Number: 105511

New York: Disney Editions, 2013.

First edition of this compilation of the works of Mo Willems. Quarto, original boards, illustrated throughout. Signed by Mo Willems who has added drawing on the title page. Fine in a fine dust jacket. With a foreword by Eric Carle.

In the foreword to this impressive coffee-table-size art book, Eric Carle calls Mo Willems “the master of the doodle.” Carle provides a doodle of his own: the iconic hungry caterpillar, waving a heart flag and proclaiming, “Mo Willems rocks!” A compilation of Mo’s sketchbooks from the past two decades, this offers a fly-on-the-wall look at where the illustrator’s ideas originate. Fun fact: Pigeon, of Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, appeared in a sketchbook long before his 2003 debut; he was “born in the corner of a notebook, complaining about how he was better than other doodles I was making.” That sounds like Pigeon alright. In addition to Mo’s general introduction, he briefly introduces each of the 20 sketchbooks.