One Hundred Books Famous in Children's Literature

Friday, July 31, 2015

The gorgeous Lilly Library in Bloomington, Ind. has an exhibit on "One Hundred Books Famous in Children's Literature" right now. So of course I had to check it out.
It was wonderful! There are first or early editions of so many famous books. There's Madeline and Winnie-the-Pooh and dozens from the early 1900s. The exhibition goes all the way back to the 1700s with copies of Gulliver's Travels and Robinson Crusoe.
There was also a sweet side exhibit on Alice in Wonderland in honor of the books 150th anniversary!
So many of the books I saw, like The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Little Prince are favorites of mine.
 I loved seeing how so many of the classic children's books included detailed illustrations. Each one was like a piece of art.
The books we read as a child seem to stay with us for the rest of our lives. Those formative years, before we become teenagers and crushes and gossip seems more important than losing yourself in a story, we thrive on those books. I can still remember reading Black Beauty and Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH for the first time. This exhibit was such a lovely trip down memory lane and it was a great reminder that books provided entertainment for centuries before there were TVs and video games.

4 comments:

Amy said...

This looks like a fantastic exhibit! I can remember reading Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH for the first time too. It was the first book I cried over.

Anonymous said...

Wow, this seems like an amazing exhibition! The Narnia books were also my favourites as a child, so I would have loved to see some early editions!

Jeanne said...

I'm usually frustrated by exhibits like that, because you can't turn the pages to see the rest...

Melissa (Avid Reader) said...

Amy - I love that book so much. I read the sequel and while not as good, I still loved returning to that world.

majoringinliterature - The illustrations were beautiful!

Jeanne - Ha, that's always a struggle for me too!