We are huge fans of Mo Willems in our house. We love Elephant and Piggie
, Knuffle Bunny
We walked into Magnolia Bakery on Friday afternoon and were greeted by lunch — and cupcakes! And were immediately paralyzed with indecision. I mean, what cupcake do you pick when you’re presented with this? Besides “Yes, please!”
We went with the special ‘pigeon blue’ cupcake, which was super yummy! (Are there cupcakes that are not yummy? Cause I’ve never met one.)
Grace tried out the new app, which is one of the coolest apps I’ve seen for kids. It has a ‘learn to draw the pigeon’ tutorial, which Grace loved, but the main part of the app allows kids to write their own story with Mo.
Kids give their ideas to make the story unique and then the story they wrote is read back to them. Its fabulous – so funny (with all the expected humor of Mo) and every time, its original. Grace even recorded her own voice as part of the story and the pictures she drew were included, too! So cool.
What impressed me about the app is that there are endless possibilities. The stories can be rewritten and rewritten and be different each time. So many apps we’ve bought entertain the kids for an hour or so, then they’re done. They’ve seen it and they’re not interested anymore. But the Pigeon App has the ability to keep them entertained for so much longer. Kids aren’t just watching something, but they are reading, engaging and being part of the story. Now at $7, its certainly pricier than most apps I buy, but I felt it was worth the price. Especially if you have an iPad – it was so much cooler on the iPad than on my iPhone! That price point is still less than a movie, so I’d rather buy something like this for my kids!
Then, Mo Willems arrived. Grace was bouncing in her seat, she was so excited! He spoke for awhile about why he decided to do an app and his upcoming works (New Pigeon book! April 2012!!). When creating the app, he said he wanted to create something that didn’t run on its own; but wanted something that required interaction.
Grace screwed up all her courage during question time (Grace does not like speaking in public) and asked Mo what his favorite book was. He said that choosing his favorite book would be like choosing his favorite child. But probably his most favorite is whatever book he finished most recently, as he always is wishing he had done something different after a book is published.
When asked if there will be another app, Mo said: “you don’t do something because you can; you do it so that it’s awesome.” And the Pigeon App is definitely awesome. And we’re certainly hoping for more Mo Willems’ apps soon!
Mo and Grace pretending to be Leonardo the Terrible Monster!
And be sure to check out Grace’s side of the story on her blog!
disclosure: we attended this event as guests of Disney Digital Books and were provided with transportation and a gift bag. As always, all opinions are my own. plus, we love Mo Willems and would have bought this app anyway.