Author Biography

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Influences on his work

During his younger years Mo Willems filled his time creating drawings and telling stories. Often Willems has reminisced about his childhood love of reading “Peanuts” comics, which inspired him to start drawing Snoopy and Charlie Brown (Willems, 2012). Being a somewhat unhappy child, Willems naturally identified with Charlie Brown’s character. So much so that he recalls writing a letter to Charles Schulz, the creator of the comic strip, saying that he wanted his job when he died (Reading Rockets,2018). Willems early influences continue to have an enormous impact on his work. This is evident in Willems design work where he creates distinctive illustrations that his audience can easily replicate (Willems, 2012). In a CNN interview he described the process as "I make drawings, then I try to take as many lines out, so that it's at its easiest to copy" (Wrenn, 2013).

Implied or Identified Audience

The audience is targeted for young readers aged between 3 and 8 years of age. This is implied through the use of humorous text and simple characters that connect with children on an emotional level. In relation to the themes within his books, Willems divulges,“the thing about writing for kids is that there are no cultural modifiers. . . so all you have to work with is love, anger, jealousy — it’s a very small palette, but the existential crises are ultimately the same” (Willems, 2012). One of the features of Willems’ work is the way he encourages readers to become part of the story, thereby allowing them to interpret the text and images in a way that supports their own understanding (McDonald, 2018).

Always think of your audience, but never think for your audience. What that means is to leave it open to interpretation. I'm not telling things, I'm asking questions. And I'm asking questions that I don't necessarily have the answers to -- Mo Willems

Testimonials

"If there’s a living creator of children’s books who stands a chance of occupying a cultural position akin to a Dr. Seuss or a Charles M. Schulz, it’s Mr. Willems." -- Maria Russo, New York Times

Mo Willems