{"id":10992,"date":"2019-03-27T19:28:21","date_gmt":"2019-03-27T23:28:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=10992"},"modified":"2019-03-27T23:30:47","modified_gmt":"2019-03-28T03:30:47","slug":"mo-willems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2019\/03\/27\/mo-willems\/","title":{"rendered":"How \u2018Pigeon\u2019 And \u2018Elephant & Piggie\u2019 Author Mo Willems Protested In 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mo Willems<\/a> has won Caldecott Honors three times for his picture books for children\u2014beginning with 2003\u2019s \u201cDon\u2019t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!\u201d\u2014and Emmys six times for his previous work as a writer and animator for \u201cSesame Street.\u201d But for the creator of \u201cElephant and Piggie,\u201d \u201cKnuffle Bunny\u201d and the loveable, hysterical Pigeon, 2018 was a very bad year in politics.<\/p>\n

The evidence is in \u201cTry Being Nice: Illustrated Reflections & Protest Signs From 2018,\u201d<\/a> the Northampton author and illustrator\u2019s exhibition at R. Michelson Galleries in Northampton from March 1 to 31, 2019.<\/p>\n

\"Mo<\/a>
Mo Willems. (Courtesy R. Michelson Galleries)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here are drawings in favor of school, teachers, voting, planning ahead, tolerance. A big goldfish says, \u201cI voted,\u201d followed by a little goldfish that says, \u201cI\u2019m why!\u201d A group of odd-shaped creatures accompany the words: \u201cYou don\u2019t have to be like someone\/to like being with someone.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are also signs Willems created for protests he attended in support science and environmentalism. Double-sided posters read \u201cLove Has Better Parties\/Love Stands Tall,\u201d and \u201cTry Being Nice, Look What You Did To Mom\u201d with a picture of a sad earth.<\/p>\n

But the drawings suggest much about the past year left Willems burned out and broken hearted. One drawing just shows \u201c2018\u201d dumped into a trashcan.<\/p>\n

\n

If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\"Mo<\/a>
Mo Willems, “Our Only Safe Space\/The Time is Now,” Double-Sided Protest Sign. (Courtesy R. Michelson Galleries)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Mo<\/a>
Mo Willems, “2018 On the Brain.” (Courtesy R. Michelson Galleries)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Mo<\/a>
Mo Willems, “Time\u2019s a Wastin\u2019.” (Courtesy R. Michelson Galleries)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Mo<\/a>
Mo Willems, “Two Hearts, Together” Double-Sided Protest Sign. (Courtesy R. Michelson Galleries)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Mo<\/a>
Mo Willems, “Love Has Better Parties\/Love Stands Tall” Double-Sided Protest Sign. (Courtesy R. Michelson Galleries)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Mo<\/a>
Mo Willems, “I Voted Birds.” (Courtesy R. Michelson Galleries)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Mo<\/a>
Mo Willems, “Courage.” (Courtesy R. Michelson Galleries)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mo Willems has won Caldecott Honors three times for his picture books for children\u2014beginning with 2003\u2019s \u201cDon\u2019t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!\u201d\u2014and Emmys six times for his previous work as a writer and animator for \u201cSesame Street.\u201d But for the creator of \u201cElephant and Piggie,\u201d \u201cKnuffle Bunny\u201d and the loveable, hysterical Pigeon, 2018 was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10994,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[106,100,107],"tags":[546,545,544],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10992"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10992"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11007,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10992\/revisions\/11007"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}