The Great Snow Storm of 2011 & Mo

I am currently looking out the window watching the snow fall as I type at my computer. Countless numbers of flakes swirl in the gushing wind as they rise and fall and dance about on their way to the frozen ground. I can see the houses across the street, so visibility is not blizzard bad, though I am stationary and not trying to drive down the road at 25 or more miles per hour, as I see some people doing down our unplowed street. Who goes out in a snow storm? Not me. No thank you. I enjoy living and not sliding off roads and getting into car wrecks and such.

So while my boys play in the room (they are supposed to be sleeping) and my hubby works from the safety of our home, locked away in our bedroom, here I am typing on my blog instead of preparing my 3-5 minute talk for the youth activity tonight (New Beginnings, for my LDS peeps) at my Church (I was recently called as a counselor in the Young Women's Presidency). The activity is undoubtedly cancelled as the Great Snow Storm of 2011 rages down (school was cancelled today and has already been cancelled tomorrow), so I still have a week or two left to prepare.

But I am not typing with no purpose in mind. What I would like to share with you on this snowy today is a children's book author I recently discovered thanks to some friends on Facebook:


Mo Willems.

Perhaps you have heard of him? He writes the Elephant and Piggie series, The Pigeon series, and the Knuffle Bunny series, as well as others. His books are intended for young children and early readers, and in my opinion are up there with Dr. Seuss and P.D. Eastman in quality and charm. After hearing about them, I went onto my local library's online catalog and requested holds on about 20 of his books. I have collected most of them, and have already read each one to my kids multiple times. They are quick and fun to read, and very imaginative. My favorite part is how they, especially the Elephant and Piggie series, help teach kids to recognize and express emotions without feeling like they are reading/being read books about how to express emotions. How many adults do you know who have trouble recognizing and expressing emotion? Maybe you are one of them. Everyone should read these books.