Books I Could Read A Million Times: The Movie Version

If you haven't heard, DON'T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS, the Scholastic DVD, came out last week.  I ordered a copy knowing it would be good to have for the library.  I don't order many DVDs these days but this seemed like a must-have.

I planned to show this to a few classes during Book Fair week since the library is pretty much taken over by book fair merchandise. I ended up showing it to almost every 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade class and I loved it EVERY SINGLE TIME!

This is a great DVD--as would be expected from Mo Willems.  The DVD includes an animated version of Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, Knuffle Bunny, and Leonardo the Terrible Monster.  There are also some extra fun clips that I will get to later.  I don't ever remember liking a movie or animated version of a story as well as I liked the original book but Mo Willems brings great fun to this DVD.  The laughs and giggles from kids of all ages--kids who know and love the books-were contagious. Teachers would pop into the library to see what all of the great giggling was about.  The whole DVD is a real treat.

And I watched it many, many times this week and did not get sick of it at all--I looked forward to watching it even after I had already seen it 10 times.  (Thus, the reason it is being added to my Books I Could Read a Million Times list--the first item that is not a book!)

Here are some things I love:
-There are little added bonuses--surprises at the beginnings and ends of each story that add to what we already love about the characters.
-Mo Willems and his wife and daughter do the narration of Knuffle Bunny which makes it quite fun.
-Jon Scieszka plays the role of the bus driver and I couldn't think of a better person to do this--there is an added part to the book where we get to know the bus driver a bit better. Jon Scieszka is great at the part!
-There is a live retelling of the Pigeon book. Mo Willems reads it to a group of children in a library. It is quite fun.
-A favorite among some classes were the "You Yell" version of Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus.  Yes, the story is told and the group needs to yell the "no" each time the Pigeon asks to drive the bus. Kids had a ball with this.
-There is also a Spanish Version of the books on the DVD as well as discussion questions.

This DVD is packed and I was sad to see it end during each class. I don't think there was one set of kids who did not ask to see the stories again. I agreed--it is one of those DVDs that you can't watch enough.

I am going to make this one available for student check out. We don't have many DVDs that are available for our students but this one would be such fun for kids to be able to share with families. It was such a fun 1/2 hour that I can't not share the fun with our families. Our school is filled with Mo Willems fans that I might even need a few more copies..... An added bonus will be that Leonardo the Terrible Monster will be loved by more children now that they know the book better.

Really, if you are a teacher or librarian, if you need a baby gift or a gift for a Mo Willems fan you know, get this DVD. It is really the best animation of children's books that I've seen.  And I might just watch it a million times--I love it that much!