It’s been FOREVER since I’ve participated in a Weekly Geeks. And I have no good excuse why, either. This week’s geek is to share some author fun facts…

1. Choose a writer you like.
2. Using resources such as Wikipedia, the author’s website, whatever you can find, make a list of interesting facts about the author.
3. Post your fun facts list in your blog, maybe with a photo of the writer, a collage of his or her books, whatever you want.
4. Come sign the Mr Linky below with the url to your fun facts post.
5. As you run into (or deliberately seek out) other Weekly Geeks’ lists, add links to your post for authors you like or authors you think your readers are interested in.

Because I don’t review picture books and easy readers, I don’t often get the chance to express my Mo Devotion. (I usually leave the whole swoon-over-Mo thing to Pam and Dawn.) But, given this chance to gush over one of my — nay, our house’s — favorite authors, I couldn’t pass it up.

We adore Mo.

A well meaning librarian in Jonesboro, Arkansas set us on to him right after Knuffle Bunny won the Caldecott Honor award. Her words: “Have you seen this book? It should have won!” We checked it out, and we were hooked.

And we’ve been hooked on all his stuff since. Leonardo, Edwina, Pigeon, Elephant and Piggie: you name it. I think, out of all our picture books that we own, he’s the one we have the most books of. And we read the most. We just can’t get enough Mo.

Not familiar with him (hopefully, that’s only because you don’t have a smallish kid in your house)? Well, he’s a brilliant (Emmy-award-winning for Sesame Street) writer, a charming artist, a funny guy, and a fabulous picture-book author. I swear to you that you’ll love his books (even if you don’t have a smallish kid around the house). Or, if you feel weird sitting in Borders reading an Elephant and Piggie book by yourself (something I’ve done recently), pick up his adult collection.

But how can you not love these? (Yes, that’s me reading them with my two youngest girls!)

You can read more about Mo’s happenings at his blog. If you do pop by there, be sure to check out my favorite feature (and the reason I want to have dinner at his house!): dining room walls.
He’s one of my favorite twitter peeps, writing as @The_Pigeon, with hilarious (and witty) observations.

Gratuitous Mo video:

Oh, and if you’re not afraid of your inner child, check out the Best. Game. Ever.