Book Review & Lesson Plan: Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus!

We’re pretty sure, if you spend any time around preschoolers, you already know Pigeon. And those who know Pigeon, love Pigeon. Yes, we’re talking about Pigeon from Mo Willems’ Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus (find at your local library or purchase from Amazon) and many other Pigeon stories. We love Pigeon here, and we love Pigeon books, and hey, we love pretty much ANY Mo Willems book, but those are blogs for other days.

Back to Pigeon, if you aren’t familiar with him, Pigeon is a slightly cranky, slightly self-absorbed, very persistent protagonist who really just wants to drive a bus. Never mind that Pigeon doesn’t have opposable thumbs, isn’t in possession of a valid Class B Commercial Driver’s License, and that his feet don’t reach the pedals. None of this matters to Pigeon, who simply wants to drive the bus.

Now Bus Driver has been down this road before. Clearly, he has had run-ins with Pidge and knows that as soon as he leaves to get his cup of coffee or whatever he has to go do, Pidge is gonna show up and try to go all Sandra Bullock and commandeer the bus. So to head off this eventuality, Bus Driver asks us, your friendly and conveniently located onlookers, to make sure that Pidge doesn’t try to drive the bus.

It’s a simple request, right? We will probably just sit here and chat and only half pay attention to the bus. Kinda like when mom asks you to watch her purse while she runs to the ladies room, right? Sure, Bus Driver, you got it. Now where were we?

Heh heh. Well now, if that’s what happened, we’d have no story, would we?

Opportunistic Pigeon recognizes a tenderfoot when he sees one. And he is all over that in a heartbeat. In fact, he’s probably been lying in wait all this time. First he tries to be coy, chummies up to us readers, and delicately asks if he can drive the bus. This question is generally met with an explosion of “NOs” from your real-life audience. And so it begins.

We love this book for 3s and Pre-K!

Pigeon, affronted at being shut down so unceremoniously, proceeds to throw at us a litany of wheedling preschoolisms: “Pleeeease, I’ll be careful!”/”I’ll be your best friend!”/”Just one time around the block!” before he desperately resorts to cash-money bribery, followed by threats of going over our heads to mom, rounds it out with a healthy dose of good old-fashioned guilt, and finally ends with the full-blown mother-of-all-toddler-reactions — the screaming tantrum.

All the while, your joyous and raucous audience is generally howling in amusement at his gradual descent into full, unfettered, completely unhinged meltdown. (Because they’ve certainly never been the ones to do this before, right?) And this is the hook. Pigeon displays all of the reactions, feelings, emotions and unfiltered angst that every preschooler can relate to.

It’s why Pigeon books are so popular with the preschool crowd. Pigeon displays a slightly-lower-than-the-average-preschooler’s sensibility, so the preschool crowd instantly recognizes “Hey, I’ve got it together way more than this guy.” They see the fallacy in his logic and they’re empowered to tell him what to do and what not to do.

And man, he’s funny. He makes us laugh. His failures and frustrations make us laugh. He’s also a little bit naughty. And he doesn’t listen so well. And he’s fairly confident that he’s right (when he’s not). Plus, he’s totes adorbs. And all of that, folks, is a winning combination.

*Downloadable/printable copy of lesson plan below

Reading comprehension questions:

Before reading: Show the cover. What is happening on the cover? What do you think this book might be about?

After reading title: What do you think it’s about now? What is a pigeon? Have you seen a pigeon before? Did it look like this pigeon? Did it talk? Do you think it could drive a bus? Why or why not?

While reading: Whenever Pigeon asks a question, encourage the children to answer him. Encouraging the dialog puts the children in control and empowers them as rules enforcers. Draw parallels between Pigeon and the children. When Pigeon says “I never get to do anything!” ask the students if they ever feel that way? What made them feel better?

After reading: Did this book turn out the way you thought it would? How was it different? How was it the same? What was your favorite part?

I like to do an enrichment activity immediately after this book is done and ask the children “Why do you think the Bus Driver didn’t want the pigeon to drive the bus?” It’s a question that’s never really answered in the story, so we answer it on our own. The key here is asking them separately so they can’t hear others’ answers and parrot. So, I generally do it as a transition activity, for example, if we read the book and then go wash hands for lunch, I’ll call each one up individually and ask them quietly, record their answers, then dismiss them to go wash hands.

Another enrichment activity that gets the kiddos thinking and talking, is asking them “What would be a better choice for the pigeon rather than driving the bus?” It gets them thinking about things birds do, things that are safer for birds and non-adults to do, and again it empowers them to make “better choices” for the Pigeon. A free downloadable copy of the “Better Pigeon Choices” enrichment activity and other follow-up activities are below.

Vocabulary words:

• pigeon
• careful
• steer
• cousin
• almost
• block (as in a city block)
• five bucks

Enrichment Activities:

Literacy & Reading Comprehension: “Better Pigeon Choices” — What do you think would be a better choice for the pigeon to do instead of driving the bus? Free downloadable pages (below) for recording and displaying dictation. In this freebie, we’ve included a one-pager with a built-in headline and lines/spaces to write in children’s names and responses. The second page is just the headline question in large font so you can print & cut it out and affix it to a large sheet of paper to create your own dictation record.

Art: The Best Children’s Books has an adorable Pigeon directed drawing activity, check it out here.