LET ME DRIVE THE BUS!!!

That's the famous line from the fabulous Mo Willems book, Don't Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus. He has quickly become Boo Jr's and my favorite author of children's books. Some of his books are so funny that I nearly fell out of bed laughing the first time I read them. I strongly recommend all of his books for any parent with small kids.

Here's Mo's bio from his website:

Author/illustrator Mo Willems began his career as a writer and animator for television, during which time he garnered 6 Emmy awards for his writing on Sesame Street, created Cartoon Network’s Sheep in the Big City and head-wrote Codename: Kids Next Door. Mo turned his attention to picture books in 2003 with Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, which was awarded a Caldecott Honor, became a New York Times Bestseller. The book has been translated into a myriad of languages, been turned into a musical theater production, and hatched a series of Pigeon books including The Pigeon Finds a Hotdog! and Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late! The following year, Mo received his second Caldecott Honor for Knuffle Bunny: a cautionary tale, a semi-autobiographical story highlighting the pitfalls of parenting a preverbal child. A New York Times Bestseller, the book has been adapted into an animated film (featuring the voices of the character’s real-life counterparts). Knuffle Bunny Too: a case of mistaken identity will be published in 2007. Mo’s other books include Leonardo the Terrible Monster, Edwina the Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct, Time to Pee!, and You Can Never Find a Rickshaw When it Monsoons, an annotated cartoon journal sketched during a year-long voyage around the world in 1990-91. Commenting on his picture book work, The New York Times Book Review called Mo “the biggest new talent to emerge thus far in the 00's" . The Elephant and Piggie books, a series of early readers featuring a pessimistic elephant and optimistic pig will begin publication in 2007. Mo’s drawings, wire sculptures, and ceramics (done in conjunction with his father, a potter) have been exhibited in galleries and museums around the nation and his observations were heard on BBC Radio for several years. Mo lives in Brooklyn, New York with his family.