Dont Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus Essay

The children’s short story Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems has many good qualities, including character and audience interaction, simplistic illustrations, and excellent examples of a dialogue- driven plot. Readers will be intrigued with this short story. The criteria chosen in critiquing this book, demonstrates how well the story interacted with the reader, and how this book succeeded in keeping the attention of its audience.
A major key in the successful of Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus was the immediate interaction the bus driver had with the reader when the reader was asked to watch the bus while he was away. But the task did not end there, the number one rule was, “Whatever you do, DO NOT LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS!” (Willem). Such an easy task one may assume, but this pigeon was no ordinary pigeon. He was very manipulative and quite convincing in his strategies to get the reader to give in. One quite clever example by the author was the page where he used numerous tactics such as bribery and guilt to wheel and deal with the reader. This simple but genius script allows the reader to control the situation by obtaining the power to continuously tell the pigeon, “NO!” It engages the reader to continue reading to find out what other scheme or pleas the pigeon may come up with next. A personal

favorite plead is when the pigeon says, “I bet your Mom would let me”, because it shows how the author applied a hint of humor to make the story interesting and relatable for any child that reads it (Willems).
Throughout the book, Willems uses short, choppy language, similar to a comic strip. Every time the pigeon talks, Willems used speech bubbles that helped make the written language very playful and easy to understand. Like mentioned before, the pigeon continuously begs in an attempt to persuade us, as readers, to give him permission to drive the bus. A very unique aspect of this book was the way Willems wanted the readers to answer back and decide whether or not to give into the cunning temptation. Willems makes this book very fun to read and will have any age group laughing from the sassy and witty language.
Mo Willems not only is the witty author of Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus but is also the illustrator. Willems is a well-known cartoonist, and this children’s book is a prime example of why he received success. The pictures are unlike many pictures typically seen in children’s books. Each background page is a light tan color, which helps children focus directly on the baby blue pigeon and the white speech bubbles. The simplistic pigeon sketches and speech bubbles allow the story to flow. A favorite portion of the entire book was when Willems split two pages into 8 different squares and each square had a pigeon with a different plead. Every picture of the pigeon’s expressions match perfectly with what he is saying. Willems’ decision to make the book like a comic was great because the language was simple and so was the visual aspect.
Although the language was simple and the illustrations were effective, younger readers may be influenced by tantrums, disrespectful responses, negotiating out of tasks, or asserting guilt or bribery to get one’s way.

Willems’ creative way of enticing the reader also allows the reader to reenact similar behaviors. The pigeon was told “No” numerous times but he continued to manipulate the reader and after several failed attempts he experienced an out of control freak out, which is illustrated as a tantrum. The pigeon sees red and explodes into a rage and demands to drive the bus. The book’s background changes from light muted tones to a deep

saturated
orange and the script flips from white speech bubbles to large bold black letters highlighted in bright yellow displaying the pigeon’s demand. What message is this portraying to younger children who are easily influenced? Is it appropriate to behave in such manner? According to the illustration it is. This shows that when one does not get their way it is appropriate to act in a similar manner.
An Amazon customer review of Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus states:
“A great book for masochists who love temper tantrums and want to teach their kids new ways to misbehave. The story involves a pigeon whining more and more obnoxiously as it demands to drive the bus. I experience enough whining from my kid and the LAST thing I want to do is model for her other ways in which she can refuse to take "no" for an answer and to lose her temper when she doesn't get her way. Worse, there isn't any kind of lesson at the end that that kind of behavior is totally unacceptable -- the message is that this is HILARIOUS!”
-public_amazon_name (Amazon).
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus does display a tantrum showing younger readers the perspective of a parent giving the reader first hand experience of dealing with inappropriate behavior. Since the fate of the bus is in the hands of the reader it teaches the reader to follow through with the directions of the bus driver even when given a difficult task. This book successfully engages the reader and its audience with its minimalistic approach. Mo Willems’ brilliance is show cased throughout his strategic audience dialogue- driven plot.