Mo Willems Workshop is introducing a new YouTube series, Read Alouds! With Kids!, on August 21. In the series, produced in-house by Hidden Pigeon Company, kids read and comment on their favorite Mo Willems books, with one title featured per episode.
“The concept came about when our head of digital watched her daughter read one of Mo’s books and saw how she lit up and provided her own commentary throughout,” said Simone Warrick, manager of production and creative at HPC, who produced and directed the series. “We wanted to empower and inspire kids to read by watching a reflection of themselves on screen. Sometimes the kids struggle with pronunciation or trip over a word; we left those moments in because they are a real reflection of their experience, and we want to shine a light on all levels of reading.”
The children helped choose the books they would read on screen. “The titles were selected internally and from the children themselves during the casting process,” said Warrick. “We really focused on leaning into each kid and the books that resonated with them.”
Three episodes per month are planned, with the first being “Elephant + Piggie: Should I Share My Ice Cream?.” The other 10 episodes in the first batch include “The Pigeon Has to Go to School!,” “Elephant + Piggie: My New Friend Is So Fun!,” “Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog!,” “Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed,” “Sam the Most Scaredy-Cat Kid,” “That Is Not a Good Idea,” “Elephant + Piggie: I Really Like Slop,” “Knuffle Bunny Too,” “Elephant + Piggie: A Big Guy Took My Ball!,” and “The Pigeon Has Feelings, Too!” More episodes are planned.
Read Alouds! With Kids! streams on the Mo Willems Workshop YouTube page, which also includes Snack Doodles, a series in which the author teaches kids how to make doodles from letters and numbers; Knuffle Bunny Across America, where children teach the character about things like hockey or building a robot; and The Pigeon Explains, in which kids help the Pigeon answer questions correctly, among other content.
