Don’t
Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!—20th Anniversary Edition. By Mo Willems. Hyperion. $19.99.
The marvelous wordplay of Gertrude Stein gave us not only “a rose is a
rose is a rose” but also “pigeons on the grass alas” – a rhyme that even made
its way into opera (Virgil Thomson’s Four
Saints in Three Acts). This goes to show that pigeon humor has a way of
connecting with audiences of all sorts, over quite a long time period –
Thomson’s opera dates to 1928. Well, Mo Willems’ particular take on pigeonry
(pigeonification?) has staying power, too: his deliciously absurdist Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus has
now been around for two decades and, lo and behold, has spawned an all-new
edition that includes nothing less than a board game. That is in addition to
pigeonish spinoff books such as The
Pigeon Wants a Puppy! and Don’t Let
the Pigeon Finish This Activity Book!
Willems’ work has staying and spinoff power because it is too ridiculous
for anyone to resent and too good-humored and silly to cause anyone to take
offense. The pigeon is entirely unrealistic, not at all anthropomorphic in
appearance – just a cartoon character made up of a couple of shapes piled upon
each other and colored. Yet the character is highly expressive, bending in all
sorts of impossible directions and frequently posing with hands on hips,
assuming pigeons have hips. (And hands.) Furthermore, this is a very talky
pigeon, making just the sorts of comments, demands and pleas that a child in
the 3-7 age range might make: “No fair!” “I bet your mom would let me!” And so
on.
Also, the pigeon pouts. And claims to suffer: “I have dreams, you know!”
And is willing to be a bit sneaky to get what he wants: “How ’bout I give you
five bucks?” And indulges in a two-page-spread temper tantrum that is utterly
hilarious from a kid’s standpoint and all too familiar from a parent’s.
Why, exactly, does the pigeon want to drive the bus? Motivation is never
given beyond the “I have dreams” comment – and that is yet another thing that
makes Willems’ book work so well, since “just because” is a major human motivation during childhood (and,
if we are honest with ourselves, during the adult years as well). And one of
the best things about Don’t Let the
Pigeon Drive the Bus! is the pigeon’s indomitable spirit: failure is not
discouraging at all, but is met with an altogether new, equally preposterous
daydream, as the non-bus-driving pigeon spots a huger-than-a-bus 18-wheeler and
imagines being in its cab , zooming along the road, on the book’s wordless
final page.
Willems is really onto something here, the overriding sense of humor and
underlying hint of pathos resulting in a hilarious but
maybe-just-a-bit-almost-real story about wanting what you cannot have, no
matter how hard you wish, and learning how to switch your wishing to a
different track when you must (not literally
a different track, by the way, although it is easy to imagine the pigeon
wanting to drive a train).
The board game bound into the back of the 20th-anniversary edition of Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! is enjoyable in its own right: players (two to four of them) have to get the bus through town and to its depot without letting the pigeon drive. The game is a simple extension of the theme of the book itself – and one element of Willems’ magic is that the pigeon’s saga stands up so well to this sort of expansion (there have even been pigeon-centered stage and film productions). The new edition of Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! shows that the original book has lost none of its original charm, with its simplicity and ridiculousness having come through the past two decades intact. Which is more than can be said for most other books and, indeed, most other elements of life. Pigeon still a star? You are!
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