The Beloved Children’s Author Mo Willems

Mo Willems’s children’s books—“Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!,” “Knuffle Bunny,” the “Elephant and Piggie” series—are praised by critics and children alike. One of his fans is the fiction writer Rivka Galchen, who is moved to tears when she reads his books. She asked Willems how he communicates serious themes in books that are funny, charming, and often only a hundred words long. Willems tells Galchen, “You want to have a balance.... You have to say ... there's great joy, there are people who are doing their best, and there are horrible things. It would be unfair not to say that.”