Because is the Story of How Inspiration Happens

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This post is sponsored by Disney Book Group but all opinions are my own.

There is something special about how a chain of events can lead to inspiration and how that inspiration can change lives.  In a way, I find it ironic that I am writing about this because it was a chain of events that led us here, sharing Falynn’s favorite author, Mo Willems and his new picture book, Because.

It was a few years ago when we started going to our local library on a regular basis. Our two older girls had favorite authors and favorite series and always knew exactly what they were going to check out. But Falynn was still discovering her love of books. She would walk down the aisle, select a few books, bring them over to the reading table and I would read them to her. After we finished each book, I would ask her if she wanted to check it out and bring it home… but the answer was always no. It’s almost as though she was still searching for something specific.

So Falynn would often leave the library empty-handed and disappointed.

One day, I was unable to take her to the library, so Super Dad took her instead. I was surprised to see her walk in our front door with a couple of new books. One had an elephant and a pig on the cover and the other had a pigeon, but the drawings were very similar. She handed them both to me and asked me to read them to her. I watched her facial expression totally change as I read each word. She was giggling and pointing and just loving it. When the book was done, she handed me the other and this continued for what seemed to be most of the afternoon.

When it was time to bring the books back, she went straight to the same area, picked out two more books from the same author, Mo Willems, and asked me to check them out. If it wasn’t a Mo Willems book, she wasn’t interested. In fact, even at age 6, though she knows almost all of them by heart already, she still goes straight to the same shelf as soon as we walk into the library, to see if there are any new Mo Willems books available to check out. If there isn’t, she grabs one of her favorites to bring home that day. It’s no wonder he is a number one New York Times best-selling author and illustrator.

When I told Falynn that we would be working with Mo Willems, and sharing his new picture book, Because, she looked as though she had won the lottery. In his new book, Because, Mo Willems composes a powerful symphony of chance, discovery, persistence, and magic in this moving tale of a young girl’s journey to center stage. Illustrator Amber Ren brings Willems’ music to life, conducting a stunning picture-book debut. As soon as the book arrived, she sat down and read it, all on her own, from beginning to end. She studied every single page as though she would be tested on it, later on.  She even noticed that there is an illustration of Mo Willems himself, inside of the book and wondered how many of the others were based on real people.

If you are looking for a great children’s book, we encourage you to check out Because by Mo Willems. And if you love it, don’t stop there. Make sure to check out any of the over 50 books he’s written and illustrated. You never know what they might inspire your little one to do.

Because of Mo Willems, Falynn wants to be a book illustrator when she grows up. Because of the joy that his books bring her, she has even attempted to illustrate her own version of her favorite Elephant & Piggie book. Because she wants to thank him for writing and illustrating so many of her favorite books, it’s her dream to meet Mo Willems. Because we are featuring his new book, Falynn hopes that Mo Willems will read this post and know how much he’s inspired her.

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