The Wonder of Museums

I just finished reading Brian Selznick's new book Wonderstruck . While it's not really a book about libraries or museums, the book does feature books, museums, libraries, and bookstores.

The illustrations, which comprise half the book, are wonderful and the text is engaging. I loved the images and descriptions of the American Museum of Natural History http://www.amnh.org/. They just renovated their Mammal galleries with new dioramas which are described in Stephen Christopher Quinn's book Windows on Nature: The Great Habitat Dioramas of the American Museum of Natural History . In fact, the museum now has their floor plan online so you can follow the adventures of the characters in Wonderstruck. Here's the link to the floor plan http://www.amnh.org/plan-your-visit/interactive-floorplan .  

The second place the characters go is to the Flushing Meadow park to the site of the 1964 Worlds Fair http://www.queensmuseum.org/exhibitions/visitpanorama . I just had to check out is miniature model of the greater New York City. 

Wonderstruck provides a child's view of the wonders hidden in libraries and museums. Visit the website for the book and experience it for yourself. Read the essays about the libraries and museums for some extra insight http://www.wonderstruckthebook.com/home.htm

On the same topic, a student just recommended "David Beck's 'MVSEVM'" a video about a cabinet of curiosities at the Smithsonian.  The video starts 20 seconds in and is 7 minutes long. http://youtu.be/6Loer27MWTY