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

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