I have a drawing in a real museum! I need to give a personal thanks to my favorite author and illustrator Mr. Mo Willems for the opportunity. Thanks to the family programming for The Art and Whimsy of Mo Willems, Mr. Mo encouraged kids of all ages to express their creativity and boy, did I! The phenomenal family day included storytime, wire sculpture creation, meet and greets with my favorite friends Elephant and Piggie, an exclusive reading with Mo Willems himself, as well as book signings!
The reading was my favorite part! Mr. Mo welcomed everyone and told the grown-ups to put away their phones or he would shame them. Ha-ha! To appease them, he did a pretend reading and posed for pictures so everyone could capture memories and then put away phones so they could focus on the main attraction—Mr. Mo! And it was worth it. The personal highlights were him reading from The Thank You Book and Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late! It was interactive and funny! For the pigeon book, I got to play a key role in answering “no” to any of the pigeon’s questions or requests. We kept that pigeon in line and did not let him stay up late. Great work, I know!
And we were such an amazing audience, that he even read us a new book that is super-duper secret—it isn’t even published yet. And he made a joke about it being called an F&G. I totally didn’t get it but the grownups laughed. Anyhow, he was so animated and funny when he read us his stories. It brought new meanings to the books for me. I laughed, I cried, it was wonderful! Thank you, Mr. Mo!
At the end of the excellent reading, Mr. Mo answered only a few questions from the audience but encouraged us to think of questions for him during his book signing. In the meantime, I went to go meet my favorite A-list book characters Elephant and Piggie. They were larger than life! We exchanged niceties and posed for pictures but ran out of time to reenact one of their books. Next time!
Then I went off to properly explore the exhibit. I enjoyed the audio of Mr. Mo narrating his works and ideas and soaked it all in. It was so intellectually provoking that I stopped down to sit for a second and realized I was sitting on a bus. It was full of Mr. Mo’s books and many of us stopped to read. And then I noticed that Pigeon was in the back! And don’t worry..I did not let the pigeon drive the bus!
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At the end of the exhibit, there was a drawing wall waiting for me. What did I do? I drew a masterpiece of course! I drew Mr. Mo’s pigeon and signed my name but made a tribute so he (hopefully!) doesn’t sue me for copyright infringement.
Then we were off to get our favorite books signed and meet Mr. Mo. I had an important question for him but got a little star-struck so Mommy had to ask on my behalf: “How did Elephant and Piggie become best friends?” Mr. Mo said they were already best friends when he met them. So I told him I would make up my own story and I cannot wait to write and illustrate it!
Mr. Mo said he is always looking to what’s next –just like this little lady! So before it is too late… Don’t miss the special exhibition! To learn more about “The Art and Whimsy of Mo Willems,” visit nyhistory.org!
Elle Belle is an adorable toddler who lives in the Upper East Side of Manhattan with her magnificent mommy, dapper dad, and baby sister. She can be reached at ellebellenyc@gmail.com.
