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The Museum of Everything
“When the world gets too big and too loud and too busy, I like to look at little pieces of it, one at a time. / I put them in a quiet place, like museums do.” The child narrator goes on to talk about their pieces in different kinds of museums: a Museum of Things I Wonder About, a Museum of Islands, a Museum of Bushes, a Museum of Hiding Places (“What if we’re in one right now and we can’t even tell?”), a Museum of Shadows, the Sky Museum, and the Museum of Little Things. About each one, the child ponders and asks child-friendly existential questions. “Can a rock in a puddle be an island?” “Is a place between streetlights a place without shadows or a place with 100 percent shadows?” The mixed-media art is equally fascinating. Some of it is painting, sometimes with white sketches superimposed to break the fourth wall; some are shadow boxes; some are collages; and some are small sculptures, photographed. Each page is designed to make readers slow down and look at all the “little pieces, one at a time.” It’s the sort of book a child can return to again and again. (Ages 5-8) ©2022 Cooperative Children’s Book Center
Illustrated by Lynne Rae Perkins
Wisconsin author, Wisconsin illustrator
Lynne Rae Perkins grew up in Pennsylvania and moved to Wisconsin to attend UW-Milwaukee. She now lives in Michigan.
CCBC Age Recommendation: Ages 5-8
Age Range:
PreK-Early Elementary (Ages 4-7)
Grades 3-5 (Ages 8-10)
Format:
Picture book
Subjects:
Collecting and Collections
Observation
Publishers:
Greenwillow, HarperCollins
Publish Year: 2021
Pages: 40
ISBN: 9780062986306
CCBC Location: Picture Book, Perkins