美国国家公共电台 NPR Kids' Author Mo Willems Has A New Creative Challenge (And So Should You)

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Mo Willems is an acclaimed¹ children's author whose characters have engaged a generation of kids. He's won all kinds of awards, had bestsellers. He is at the top of his game, but even Mo Willems can suffer a touch of irrational² imposter syndrome³. When the Kennedy Center came calling and asked if he'd like to be their first-ever education artist in residence, he said, yes, of course, but he was also a bit freaked out.

MO WILLEMS: What it means is I get to be really, really terrified in all kinds of new, different ways.

MARTIN: One of the challenges was to take one of his most beloved characters, Pigeon, from the page to the stage in the form of a musical. We visited Willems and some of the cast during the first rehearsals⁴ for "Don't Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus! (The Musical)."

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (Singing) Maybe I would feel aliver (ph) if I could be like that driver.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (Singing) I love being...

UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS: (Singing) The bus driver.

MARTIN: The show, based on his popular "Pigeon" series, will hit the Kennedy Center later this year. In the meantime, Mo Willems has a new "Pigeon" book out today. It's called "The Pigeon HAS To Go To School!"

Mo Willems is a creative mind in the truest sense. He sees wonder and poignancy⁵ in the most simple of things, and he can turn them into stories for kids about big philosophical⁶ questions, which is why he told me he'd leapt at the chance to collaborate⁷ at the Kennedy Center.

WILLEMS: There are all these sandboxes that I don't usually get to play in - you know, the National Symphony Orchestra or jazz with Jason Moran or various other forms. And so for me, it's kind of like going to second grade. Like, I have some basic literacy skills in what I do, but I really don't know what I'm doing. And I get to be in all of these rooms - these collaborative rooms with people who understand their mediums. And I think I understand my characters, and we get to just sort of make new stuff.

MARTIN: So as part of this - like you say, you get to just play in all kinds of different sandboxes, but some of the toys are the same. Can I draw this metaphor⁸? Like, you get to use your characters - your well-beloved...

WILLEMS: I get to play with my characters.

MARTIN: ...Characters.

WILLEMS: Yes.

MARTIN: Right.

WILLEMS: Almost all of the projects are based on seeing my characters do something different - so be in a play or be in a piece of music or be in a piece of dance. And for me, really, the kind of guiding light for what I'm trying to accomplish - there are two things. What I'm trying to accomplish for myself is just terrify myself, which I'm doing pretty well. And what I'm trying to accomplish for the audience is this idea that, you know, we constantly hear how children are the future, but we seldom say, hey, we're the present. And it's incumbent⁹ on us to be present. So if you really want your kid to be artistic¹⁰, to draw and be empathetic and to be musical, you have to do those things.

MARTIN: Whoa.

WILLEMS: You have to be sitting there drawing. You have to be modeling this stuff.

MARTIN: You can't assume that they're just going to get it. If you tell them it's important to have in their life, you...

WILLEMS: You're a liar¹¹.

MARTIN: You have to do the thing.

WILLEMS: You're a liar if you don't do it. You know, drawing is physicalized empathy. When you're drawing a character, you're thinking about who that character is. You're empathizing with that character. And so if you're telling a child to do that and you don't do that, they can smell it. They smell that you're lying.

MARTIN: They do. But they can, can't they? Who did you first empathize with through drawing - who or what?

WILLEMS: You know, for me, the touchstone is always going to be "Peanuts" and Charlie Brown and Snoopy because Charlie Brown was easy to draw, and his life was worse than mine. Like, it was terrible. And you could just sit there and just watch him go through misery¹². I think the worst thing you could've done to Charlie Brown was to say that your life is in four panels. And while you think it's a tragedy, everyone in the world is laughing at you.

And the Pigeon is the same. I mean, the Pigeon - if you were to tell the Pigeon that his books were funny, oh, you would break his little molty (ph) heart (laughter).

MARTIN: Can you - for people who don't know Pigeon, can you just explain him?

WILLEMS: Oh, the Pigeon has wants and needs and desires, and he has very few filters. He wants what he wants. He thinks he needs what he needs. He is railing at the unjustice (ph) of it all.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (Singing) My hopes are thwarted¹³. I'm broken-hearted, and I'm only starting to see what is true. It's so very much that I'm never due...

MARTIN: Well, amidst all these new projects, you've given Pigeon another chapter. I mean, you...

WILLEMS: I have. I didn't think I was going to write another "Pigeon" book ever, really. He hates it when I don't make books about him, and that's why the Pigeon...

MARTIN: Is he a little bit narcissistic¹⁴, Pigeon?

WILLEMS: Oh, he's terrible. He's terrible character.

MARTIN: He gets jealous. So...

WILLEMS: He is jealous.

MARTIN: So you paid attention to him again.

WILLEMS: Well, you know, I try to think that the Pigeon is a core, fundamental, philosophical being. He is asking the fundamental deep questions. And I usually look at my books from questions that I have - philosophical questions that I don't have the answer to. So for me, the last couple years have just - in terms of the news and the culture - have been - there's been all this uncertainty¹⁵.

MARTIN: Yeah.

WILLEMS: You know, every day, you wake up, and you really don't know what's going to happen next. And I started to realize that that is not unlike having to go to school. There's this whole new paradigm¹⁶ that you are ill-prepared for. And the - that has to bring up certain emotions and fears and passions. So I put him in that situation. And unlike the other books, he has no choice here. He has to live that uncertainty.

MARTIN: Yeah.

WILLEMS: So it is "The Pigeon HAS To Go To School!"

MARTIN: Why do you want to do this for a living?

WILLEMS: I'm terrible at so many things (laughter).

MARTIN: I don't believe you for some reason.

WILLEMS: It's ultimately reductive.

MARTIN: You could have done other things, though, that are similar. You definitely explored comedy.

WILLEMS: Yeah.

MARTIN: You were a writer for "Sesame Street." You could've gone into multimedia¹⁷ or television. What is it about the act of writing...

WILLEMS: Well, books are sculptures.

MARTIN: Yeah.

WILLEMS: Books are sculptures, and they're incredibly intimate. I am lucky enough to have written books that may be the first book that a child has read on their own, which is an incredible empowerment, you know?

MARTIN: Do you ever run out of ideas?

WILLEMS: Oh - I mean, do I have a special wall that I bang my head against? Yes.

MARTIN: That's what happens.

WILLEMS: I do. Yeah. But I feel fortunate to love my work and to be a neurotic¹⁸.

MARTIN: How does your neuroses help?

WILLEMS: Well, because they bring up questions. I'm - you're never going to run out of questions about how to be who you want to be, how to be the best you, how to be kinder or to understand more. I mean, we live in such a complex yet beautiful world, and it's such a gift that - to be able to feel around all the edges of that, it certainly takes a lifetime.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

MARTIN: Mo Willems - his new book is called "The Pigeon HAS To Go To School!"

1 acclaimed   

adj.受人欢迎的

参考例句：

• They acclaimed him as the best writer of the year. 他们称赞他为当年的最佳作者。
• Confuscius is acclaimed as a great thinker. 孔子被赞誉为伟大的思想家。

2 irrational   

adj.无理性的，失去理性的

参考例句：

• After taking the drug she became completely irrational.她在吸毒后变得完全失去了理性。
• There are also signs of irrational exuberance among some investors.在某些投资者中是存在非理性繁荣的征象的。

3 syndrome   

n.综合病症；并存特性

参考例句：

• The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
• Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。

4 rehearsals   

n.练习( rehearsal的名词复数 )；排练；复述；重复

参考例句：

• The earlier protests had just been dress rehearsals for full-scale revolution. 早期的抗议仅仅是大革命开始前的预演。
• She worked like a demon all through rehearsals. 她每次排演时始终精力过人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 poignancy   

n.辛酸事，尖锐

参考例句：

• As she sat in church her face had a pathos and poignancy. 当她坐在教堂里时，脸上带着一种哀婉和辛辣的表情。
• The movie, "Trains, Planes, and Automobiles" treats this with hilarity and poignancy. 电影“火车，飞机和汽车”是以欢娱和热情庆祝这个节日。

6 philosophical   

adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的

参考例句：

• The teacher couldn't answer the philosophical problem.老师不能解答这个哲学问题。
• She is very philosophical about her bad luck.她对自己的不幸看得很开。

7 collaborate   

vi.协作，合作；协调

参考例句：

• The work gets done more quickly when we collaborate.我们一旦合作，工作做起来就更快了。
• I would ask you to collaborate with us in this work.我们愿意请你们在这项工作中和我们合作。

8 metaphor   

n.隐喻，暗喻

参考例句：

• Using metaphor,we say that computers have senses and a memory.打个比方，我们可以说计算机有感觉和记忆力。
• In poetry the rose is often a metaphor for love.玫瑰在诗中通常作为爱的象征。

9 incumbent   

adj.成为责任的，有义务的；现任的，在职的

参考例句：

• He defeated the incumbent governor by a large plurality.他以压倒多数票击败了现任州长。
• It is incumbent upon you to warn them.你有责任警告他们。

10 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

11 liar   

n.说谎的人

参考例句：

• I know you for a thief and a liar!我算认识你了，一个又偷又骗的家伙！
• She was wrongly labelled a liar.她被错误地扣上说谎者的帽子。

12 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

13 thwarted   

阻挠( thwart的过去式和过去分词 )； 使受挫折； 挫败； 横过

参考例句：

• The guards thwarted his attempt to escape from prison. 警卫阻扰了他越狱的企图。
• Our plans for a picnic were thwarted by the rain. 我们的野餐计划因雨受挫。

14 narcissistic   

adj.自我陶醉的，自恋的，自我崇拜的

参考例句：

• In the modern vocabulary, it was narcissistic. 用时髦话说，这是一种自我陶醉狂。 来自辞典例句
• This is our Nielaoshi, a dwarf has also grown narcissistic teachers. 这就是我们的倪老师，一个长得又矮又自恋的老师。 来自互联网

15 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

16 paradigm   

n.例子，模范，词形变化表

参考例句：

• He had become the paradigm of the successful man. 他已经成为成功人士的典范。
• Moreover,the results of this research can be the new learning paradigm for digital design studios.除此之外，本研究的研究成果也可以为数位设计课程建立一个新的学习范例。

17 multimedia   

adj.多种手段的，多媒体的；n.多媒体

参考例句：

• Multimedia is the combination of computer and video technology.多媒体是计算机和视频技术的结合。
• Adam raised the issue of multimedia applications and much useful discussion ensued.亚当提出了多媒体应用的问题，从而引发了许多有益的讨论。

18 neurotic   

adj.神经病的，神经过敏的；n.神经过敏者，神经病患者

参考例句：

• Nothing is more distracting than a neurotic boss. 没有什么比神经过敏的老板更恼人的了。
• There are also unpleasant brain effects such as anxiety and neurotic behaviour.也会对大脑产生不良影响，如焦虑和神经质的行为。