URL youtube.com/@MoWillemsWorkshop 

Cost Free

Content During the pandemic lockdown, many families relied on Mo Willems’s playful, calm, and supportive “Lunch Doodle” videos, sponsored by the ­Kennedy Center, on YouTube. The Mo Willems Workshop has expanded this content on YouTube: “Sparking serious silliness for kids and ­former kids. The Mo Willems Workshop is a space to watch, create and play,” the channel states. See our interview with ­Willems about the development of the channel, which launched July 21, 2023, and has 51.5K subscribers and over 15 million views (as of August 1, 2024). The site has more than 230 ­videos (with new content added one to three times a week) that run from three minutes to almost an hour and include drawing videos, straight-up read-alouds of Willems’s books by Cher Willems, recorded performances, and original videos starring ­Pigeon and Knuffle Bunny. The channel is also comprised of YouTube shorts, playlists grouped by program type or theme (e.g., back-to-school, summer fun, or healthy routines), and links to analog activity kits in the descriptions of relevant videos.

“The Pigeon Explains…” features a puppet of Pigeon, the star of Willems’s award-winning series, interacting with a diverse cast of kids, whose ages run from six through ten. The children teach Pigeon daily tasks, such as how to brush teeth, make a bed, and wash clothes. Other activities include flying a kite, jumping rope, and how to play catch. Each short episode, ranging from three to six minutes, follows a playful formula, where the Pigeon states silly ways to do the activity as kids shout, “No!” off-screen. A featured child expert comes to the Pigeon’s rescue and shows the bewildered bird how to wash hands or tell a knock-knock joke. The character’s enthusiasm for the mundane is infectious, and while kids will appreciate easy-to-follow breakdowns, caregivers and educators will appreciate the life-lesson reminders.

Another original series created for the channel is “Knuffle Bunny Across ­America,” in which the stuffed bunny ­travels from state to state via cardboard box to visit kids who take viewers through their daily routines as they share their unique talents and everyday interests. Kiara from Honolulu, HI, is a surfer who loves riding her bike. Dallas from Wasco, IL, uses a wheelchair, advocates for inclusive playgrounds, and loves to make jewelry. Chase from Abilene, KS, takes care of baby cows on his family’s dairy farm and loves ice cream. In each charmingly relatable episode, long-suffering Knuffle Bunny silently accompanies each kid as they narrate their own stories and even do some of the filming themselves on a phone, which is intercut with professional footage. These videos could inspire young filmmakers to make their own Knuffle Bunny video ­diaries documenting their lives.

The “Lunch Doodles” are now joined by “Snack Doodles,” where Willems shows viewers how to transform letters into fun doodles in his studio, and there are tutorials for how to draw favorite characters taught by an animated Willems avatar. The empowering message is that anyone can draw or doodle and that “drawing is just a bunch of shapes and letters put together in the right order.” Librarians and educators will find the bite-size “Snack Doodles” useful, as Willems works his way through the whole alphabet, including fun and unique vocabulary lessons to boot: D is for ­demeanor; H is for haberdasher.

Rounding out the channel are a handful of longer projects, including two recorded stage productions with “The Storytime All-Stars,” including “Sketchfest,” filmed live at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco and “Don’t Let the Pigeon Ride the Bus” at the Kennedy Center, where Willems was an artist in residence. Well-known actors and musicians, including Rachel Dratch, Weird Al Yankovic, Yvette Nicole Brown, Oscar Nuñez, and Dulcé Sloan act out and even sing various Pigeon, Elephant & Piggie, and Knuffle Bunny stories with Willems acting as emcee. One of the most popular videos on the channel appears to be a slick, animated, musical version of Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed, where an iconoclastic mole rat learns to love fashion. Many of the musical numbers from the movie are pulled out as shorter music videos.

Verdict This is a highly recommended resource for librarians, educators, parents, and caregivers looking to share more Mo ­Willems content. With kid-centered ­adventures, playful life/skill lessons, creative drawing ­experiences, and engaging full-length productions, this resource will delight young fans who will find something to love and may even be inspired to create their own doodles and videos.

Rachel G. Payne, Brooklyn Public Library, is the coauthor of SLJ ’s First Steps column.