Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems

Hey, Story Seekers!

I have one job for you.

One.

There's a bus sitting here. The driver has stepped away.

Do not let the pigeon drive it.

Seems easy.

Then the pigeon shows up.

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, written and illustrated by Mo Willems, is built on one gloriously simple idea. The grown-up leaves, the reader gets put in charge, and a pigeon immediately starts working on us.

Readit is taking his responsibility very seriously.

His official position: "No."

The pigeon hasn't even asked yet.

Book Breakdown

The bus driver needs to leave for a moment.

Before he goes, he talks directly to us.

Watch things while I'm gone.

And whatever you do, don't let the pigeon drive the bus.

Then he leaves.

Enter pigeon.

He wants to drive the bus.

Badly.

At first he asks nicely.

When that doesn't work, he starts negotiating.

Maybe he could just steer.

Maybe there are reasons we should trust him.

Maybe we could work out a little deal.

No?

Fine.

Now comes begging. Complaining. Bargaining. Guilt. Friendship. Bribery. And eventually the kind of magnificent meltdown normally associated with a preschooler discovering that cookies are not considered breakfast, lunch and dinner.

This bird uses everything.

And here's the part that makes the book work.

We never answer him on the page.

The kid does.

Willems leaves that space open. The Pigeon looks straight out and asks. A room full of children knows exactly what to do.

NO!

Then he tries again.

NO!

Suddenly you're not reading a story to kids.

You're refereeing a negotiation between twenty children and one extremely persistent bird.

That's a much better arrangement.

Willems's artwork looks simple because it is simple.

But don't confuse simple with lazy.

The Pigeon is a few shapes, thick black lines, a blue-gray body, one enormous white eye, and a beak.

That's enough.

A tiny change in that eye completely changes his mood. Tilt the head. Move the wing. Shift the pupil. Now he's hopeful. Now he's suspicious. Now he's pleading. Now he's furious.

The backgrounds stay nearly empty, which means there's nowhere for the Pigeon to hide.

Every ounce of attention goes exactly where Willems wants it.

On that bird.

And that bird is working us.

For teachers and librarians: Guided Reading Level I · DRA 16 · interest level preschool to grade 2. Hyperion Books for Children, April 1, 2003. Forty pages, ages 3 to 5, and a 2004 Caldecott Honor Book. It was Willems's first children's book.

Jungle Jimmy's Journal

This book understands something important about reading to kids.

Sometimes the best thing you can hand them is authority.

Children spend a remarkable percentage of the day being told no.

No climbing that.

No touching that.

No running in here.

No putting that in your mouth.

Then Mo Willems walks in, hands them a book, and says: your turn.

Now you tell somebody no.

And not just anybody. A pigeon who flatly refuses to accept your answer.

That's why the repetition doesn't feel repetitive. The situation keeps changing, because the Pigeon keeps changing tactics. He isn't asking the same question twenty times.

He's working the room.

That's performer stuff.

Start small. Ask nicely. Try another angle. Get desperate. Make a ridiculous offer. Lose your mind.

If you're reading this out loud, don't make the Pigeon sound the same on every page. He's trying something new each time because the last thing failed.

Let him sell it. Let him whisper. Let him plead. Let him get irritated.

Then when the tantrum lands, you've earned it.

There's another trick working underneath.

Kids recognize this guy.

Maybe not as a pigeon.

But the negotiating?

Oh yes.

One more minute.

I'll be good.

Everybody else gets to.

It's not fair.

Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease.

Somewhere a parent is reading this book and thinking: I know this bird.

That's where the grown-up laugh lives.

One last thing, and it's my favorite thing anybody has ever reported about this book. A grandmother named Cyndi wrote that her grandson was supposed to tell the Pigeon no every time. "But, Mr. H is a bit of a rebel. He kept telling the pigeon that as long as he was careful he could drive the bus."

That kid understood the assignment better than anybody.

You gave him power. He used it.

Readit's Review

NO.

You cannot drive the bus.

You are a PIGEON.

Do you even have a driver's license?

Also, your feet cannot reach the pedals.

I don't care if your cousin drives one.

No.

Stop asking.

The best part is when he gets REALLY mad because he has tried everything and we're still saying no.

His eye gets crazy.

I would yell the answer every time.

But I have one question.

Why did the bus driver leave ME in charge?

I'm a kid.

I think he should have taken the keys.

That would solve the entire book.

Also, at the end when the Pigeon sees the big truck?

No.

I'm telling you now.

NO.

What Others Think

The Pigeon has been trying to wear readers down for more than twenty years. It isn't working. Goodreads shows 4.33 out of 5 from 107,469 ratings, with about 4,700 written reviews.

The pattern is loud and consistent. Kids like saying no. Teachers like how fast the book gets a room involved. And adults recognize an uncomfortable amount of real child negotiating behavior in one small blue bird.

Dez the Bookworm keeps it short: "My kids LOVED this! Super fun and silly, we've read it several times now."

Brent Weeks names the layers: "Younger kids can just read the story and see the pigeon throwing a fit. It's funny."

And Calista, who came in hostile, gives the most useful endorsement on the page: "I do not like the artwork of Mo Willems... I went into this with dread, I'll be honest. This was very creative. This gets the reader involved."

Now, two dissents, and both are worth knowing about.

Alienor doesn't hold back: "I kinda hate that freaking pigeon. UGHH so annoying, I swear... I don't see the point at all except making children yell NO!!"

That's fair, and if this bird gets on your nerves he will get there efficiently. For me the annoyance is the mechanism. You're supposed to want to tell him no. He's very good at his job.

The second one is more interesting and might apply to your kid. Hilary read it to her children, who "felt sorry for the pigeon and thought the book would have been more fun if the pigeon had taken the bus for a drive."

Some children don't want to be the enforcer. They want the bird to get the bus. If yours is one of those, this book will feel like being handed a job they didn't apply for.

Belly Laugh Scale

5 out of 5: Laugh-Out-Loud Legend

First five I've given.

Not because every line is a joke. Because Willems builds a comedy routine between a character and the actual child holding the book.

The Pigeon begs.

Kids answer.

He changes tactics.

Kids answer louder.

He gets frustrated.

They love it.

Then he loses his feathers entirely.

Now you've got a room.

The pictures, the repetition, the escalating performance and the child's part all point at the same target, and they all hit it.

Sorry, Pigeon.

Still no bus.

Final Explorer Verdict

I'd recommend Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! for ages 3 to 6, especially preschool and kindergarten storytimes where nobody expects the children to sit silently with their hands folded.

It's terrific for kids who like talking back to books.

It's terrific for voices.

It's terrific for groups.

And it's especially good for children who enjoy knowing something the character desperately wishes they didn't know.

They're in charge.

Willems does an impressive amount with a handful of words and a nearly empty page. He doesn't need scenery. He doesn't need a plot.

He needs one bird who wants something, and one kid who's supposed to stop him.

Go.

That's a comedy setup.

If your kid likes being the one who knows better, that's the engine of Look! There Are No Dinos Inside Of This Book. The comedy runs the other direction, but the pleasure is identical. A loud, confident character keeps insisting on something and the child gets to push back.

With the Pigeon, kids shout no.

With Dangerous Dave, they get to shout that there ARE dinosaurs.

Either way the grown-up has lost control of the room.

Perfect.

Keep exploring, Story Seekers!

Jungle Jimmy & Readit