Mo Willems
Recognized in the Creative Minds Montessori 2026 Teacher’s Choice list.
Mo Willems is one of roughly one hundred authors whose work was selected by the Montessori-certified teachers at Creative Minds Montessori for the 2026 Teacher’s Choice list — 120 books chosen across four reading stages, from first lap-reads to first chapter books. Their 2 selected books were chosen for how precisely they meet children at a real developmental moment. This recognition cannot be bought: no author or publisher paid to appear on our lists, and we take no commission on any book sale.
About Mo Willems
Mo Willems is the most decorated creator in modern early-reader publishing: six Emmys as a Sesame Street writer-animator, three Caldecott Honors, and the Elephant & Piggie series that redefined learning to read as comedy.
Willems drew a doodle of a pigeon in his sketchbook while at Sesame Street; a colleague dared him it couldn't carry a book. Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! earned a Caldecott Honor and launched an empire built on trusting kids to be in on the joke.
Also by this author: Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! · Knuffle Bunny · We Are in a Book!
Official website: hiddenpigeoncompany.com
Selected for the 2026 Teacher’s Choice list
Should I Share My Ice Cream?
The Why-Askers · Big Feelings, First Friendships
There Is a Bird on Your Head!
Read-to-Me, Read-by-Me · I Can Read This Myself
Part of The Best Children’s Books by Age, chosen by the teachers at Creative Minds Montessori in Frisco, TX.