Wednesday, June 11, 2008

DON'T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS!


1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Willems, Mo. 2003. DON’T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS. New York, NY: Hyperion Books for Children. ISBN 078681988X

2. PLOT SUMMARY
On the title page, a bus driver leaves the reader with a pigeon and the instructions not to let the pigeon drive the bus. Throughout the rest of the book the pigeon tries to persuade the reader to let him drive from the assurance that his cousin Herb drives a bus daily to the offer of a five dollar bribe. The story ends when the driver returns, the pigeon realizes that he won’t get to drive the bus, and then the pigeon sees a semi-truck.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
The illustrations of the book are very simple with the element of line being obvious. The illustrations give the illusion of being drawn with a crayon. The colors are minimal with the background being nothing but a mute color on the page. The pigeon is drawn without much detail and much of the focus being on his large eye. Most of the pages are of the pigeon alone.

Cartoon bubbles are what the text appears in because the whole book only uses dialogue. The author uses the simplicity of the text and pictures to appeal to young readers. Older readers will be able to appreciate the persuasive nature of the pigeon.

4. REVIEW EXCERPTS
A Caldecott Honor Book
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL-“The genius of this book is that the very young will actually recognize themselves in it.”
BOOKLIST-“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.”

5. CONNECTIONS
This book is perfect to use with children in showing them the power of persuasion.
Other book titles include:
Hoose, Phillip M. HEY, LITTLE ANT. ISBN 9781883672546
Orloff, Karen. I WANNA IGUANA. ISBN 9780399237171
Viorst, Judith. EARRINGS! ISBN 9780689867842

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