Create your own pigeon story with a new app featuring the voice of author Mo Willems. Don t let the pigeon run this app: Play free mobile games online. All these html5 games can be played on your mobile, pad and tablet without installation.

1. Don't Let The Pigeon Drive The App
2. Don't Let The Pigeon Run This App Game Online
3. Don't Let The Pigeon Run This App Game For Kids You Can Play
4. Don't Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus
5. Don't Let The Pigeon Books

This app was released late last week as the iTunes “App of the Week.”

Is there any doubt that this pigeon has fans?

Screen shot from 'Don't Let the Pigeon Run This App' (Willems) Disney Digital Books

Title: Don’t Let the Pigeon Run This App!
Author: Mo Willems
Published and Developed by: Hyperion Books for Children with Small Planet Digital
Platform: iOS, requires 3.1.3 or later
Version: 1.0
Price: $6.99

PreS-Gr 1-It is probably not hyperbole to call Mo Willems a genius. His drawing style is understated yet infinitely expressive. His stories have been compared to Samuel Beckett’s, his dialogue to Harold Pinter’s. And he makes children and adults laugh.

A consistent theme in Willems’s work is his disregard for the so-called “fourth wall.” His characters routinely speak directly to readers, soliciting our intervention and indeed handing narrative power over to us. The aptly named Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive This App gives readers even more control. There’s an animated story— “Don’t Let the Pigeon [Do Something]”—presented three ways: as a passive listening experience; with multiple-choice fill-in-the-blank viewer responses (touch selected); and as a Mad Lib for which the user records his or her voice.

In response to a question, a small child might make the pigeon beg to be allowed to eat candy or to jump on the bed. The pigeon will try to bribe the child for permission to do so with a truck full of the viewer’s favorite snack or a round of his or her favorite game (both provided earlier by the child). Up to six stories of these user-created stories can be saved in a “vault” and replayed.

This app is also pretty entertaining for adults. (After the kids go to bed, a grownup might get the pigeon to admit his desire to quit his job and move to Fiji or bet his paycheck on mixed martial arts fighting.)And it’s consistent with Willems’s commitment to entertaining parents as well as children—”playing to the orchestra” as he puts it.

There’s also a “Draw With Mo” feature. With Willems’s guidance, anyone can draw a fairly passable pigeon, which then appears in the story as a “priceless piece of art.” Users can also snap a photo of the image to save on their devices.

However. While viewers can use the screen to draw whatever they like, the only drawing exercise is the pigeon. And there’s only the one Mad Lib story. Making this an app that is fun for an hour or two, an app to share with friends a few times, but not one that contains enough variety to sustain long-term interest. Given the low cost of most iPad apps, it may seem petty to quibble. But the Pigeon’s app debut, while clever and elegant, is thin.-Paula Willey, Pink Me

I've wanted this app forever (yes, me! My kids love the pigeon, but didn't know about the app until today). Mo Willems is a family favorite. When we lived in Brooklyn, Chris and I used to frequent the very laundromat where Trixie lost her Knuffle Bunny. Our kids now love the Knuffle Bunny books, the Elephant and Piggie series, Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs... but they especially enjoy the Pigeon books.
So ever since I heard that there was a Pigeon app, with Mo Willems' voice/creative involvement, I've been interested. But the app is normally priced at $5.99! And basically, it's just a big game of Mad Libs. The bus driver asks you a series of questions -- what's something you like? the name of someone you know?, what's your favorite number?, what's something smelly? -- then a story starring the pigeon is generated. This is the same basic pigeon story we know and love: he wants something (whatever you named) that he can't have, so he tries begging (the person you named would give it to him...!), making deals, getting angry, etc.

Don't Let The Pigeon Drive The App

Of course he can't have whatever it is, and the fun is in watching the very expressive pigeon learn to deal with his frustration. There are three levels to the 'Mad Libs' fun: on Egg, you don't contribute any answers at all, just shake the iPad and the story changes. On Chick, you make some choices. But Big Pigeon is where you get to record your own voice in the story. My 6-year-old was easily able to figure out how to work the app herself. You can save 6 different versions of the Pigeon story in your Favorite Stories vault, but there is no way to export the stories (due to copyright concerns, I imagine).

Don't Let The Pigeon Run This App Game Online

After going through the story two or three times with the girls I got pretty bored. The story is essentially the same each time. On the other hand, they showed no signs of boredom; they were very amused with themselves for thinking of 'poop' as a smelly thing, and 'Marcy Zipke' as the name of someone they know. What saved the app for me was the Draw the Pigeon extra. In this section Mo Willems gives a video tutorial on how to draw the pigeon, with step-by-step line assistance that fades away after you draw your lines. He is hilarious in his instructions, making helpful suggestions such as when you make the two lines down for the neck, it really helps to say 'Nnnnnneeeeeeerrrrr, nnnnnneeeeerrrrrrr.' And it really works. Below is Brooklyn's (my 6-year-old's) pigeon!:

Don't Let The Pigeon Run This App Game For Kids You Can Play

Don't Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus

In sum, this is a pretty fun app. There's no way it's worth $5.99. But if you get it this weekend, while it's on sale...? Well, Autumn actually let me TURN OFF Frozen so that she could play this with us for a while. I'd say that is worth a few bucks.

Don't Let The Pigeon Books