Product Description

When a bus driver takes a break from his route, a very unlikely volunteer springs up to take his place-a pigeon! But you've never met one like this before. As he pleads, wheedles, and begs his way through the book, children will love being able to answer back and decide his fate. In his hilarious picture book debut, popular cartoonist Mo Willems perfectly captures a preschooler's temper tantrum.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2417 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04-01
• Released on: 2003-03-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 40 pages

From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 2-A brilliantly simple book that is absolutely true to life, as anyone who interacts with an obdurate three-year-old can attest. The bus driver has to leave for a while, and he makes one request of readers: "Don't let the pigeon drive the bus." It's the height of common sense, but the driver clearly knows this determined pigeon and readers do not-yet. "Hey, can I drive the bus?" asks the bird, at first all sweet reason, and then, having clearly been told no by readers, he begins his ever-escalating, increasingly silly bargaining. "I tell you what: I'll just steer," and "I never get to do anything," then "No fair! I bet your mom would let me." In a wonderfully expressive spread, the pigeon finally loses it, and, feathers flying and eyeballs popping, screams "LET ME DRIVE THE BUS!!!" in huge, scratchy, black-and-yellow capital letters. The driver returns, and the pigeon leaves in a funk-until he spies a huge tractor trailer, and dares to dream again. Like David Shannon's No, David (Scholastic, 1998), Pigeon is an unflinching and hilarious look at a child's potential for mischief. In a plain palette, with childishly elemental line drawings, Willems has captured the essence of unreasonableness in the very young. The genius of this book is that the very young will actually recognize themselves in it.
Dona Ratterree, New York City Public Schools
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
PreS. In his winning debut, Willems finds the preschooler in a pigeon: a cajoling, tantrum-throwing, irresistible bird. "I've got to leave for a little while," says a uniformed bus driver as he strolls off the opening pages. "I thought he'd never leave," says the big-eyed pigeon as he marches onto the next spread and begins his campaign to drive the bus. His tactics, addressed to an unseen audience, are many: he reasons ("I tell you what: I'll just steer"); he whines ("I never get to do anything!"); he's creative ("Let's play 'Drive the Bus'! I'll go first"); he bargains ("C'mon! Just once around the block!"). Finally he erupts in a feather-flying tantrum, followed by a drooping sulk that ends only when a truck arrives, and new road fantasies begin. Librarians may struggle with the endpapers, which contain important story content, but the design is refreshingly minimal, focusing always on the pigeon; he's the only image on nearly every earth-toned spread. Willems is a professional animator, and each page has the feel of a perfectly frozen frame of cartoon footage--action, remarkable expression, and wild humor captured with just a few lines. Preschoolers will howl over the pigeon's dramatics, even as they recognize that he wheedles, blows up, and yearns to be powerful just like they do. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

For all the family
I came across this book when my wife found it on the shelf in a local bookshop.

She read it and encouraged our son to stop dancing around the bookstands and concentrate and read it.

Although he prefers video games he loved it.

When I met up with them, he was so enthusiastic that he persuaded me to read it.

My daughter then loved it when she had stopped looking at 'her favourite books' in the store.

We all appreciated the simple humour of the book and the appreciation of the pigeon's point of view - which was a learning point for all of us.


PS my daughter is 18 and my son 16!

We really love this one
The pigeon throws all the standard tricks to get you to let him drive the bus, you say no a lot, he doesn't drive the bus, everybody's happy. (Except the pigeon, but he's easily distracted.)

This is weird to say, but we *especially* like the endpapers. Mo Willems has great endpapers in his books. The front inside cover shows the pigeon daydreaming about driving a bus, and the last one shows him daydreaming about driving a truck, and for some reason this is The Funniest Thing Ever for the nieces.

This book will tend to hype a kid up. Not recommended for naptime, but definitely great for the more fidgety kids, who get distracted at storytime easily. It *demands* audience participation.

Great read for young kids
Both my five year old kinder and two year old love this book. Well illustrated and funny enough for an adult to enjoy reading! Recommended.