poky puppy
poky puppy

Something I’ve discovered about New York in the short amount of time that I have existed here is that, though it may rain less often than it does in my home state of Washington, when it does rain it rains much, much harder and with very little warning. One minute it will be blue skies and sunshine and the next it will be dumping so hard it has tourists shrieking as they run for cover.

It was during one of these instances of sudden torrential downpour that I found myself ducking inside the New York Public Library for cover. As I watched bucket upon bucket of rainwater fall from the sky, I recognized that I was probably going to be taking shelter for a while and decided to have myself a look around at which point I found myself walking into the library’s magical exhibition The ABC of It: Why Children’s Books Matter.

I had heard of the exhibit from friends and from what they had said I went in expecting a nostalgic walk down memory lane. What I got was so much more.

The ABC of It explored the true meaning behind children’s books and why our favorite tales from our own childhoods still thrill us to this day. I found myself both giddy with nostalgia and elated with new discovery. I never thought I would ever see a copy of The Poky Little Puppy again! And I had never known that Theodore Geisel began his writing career as Dr. Seuss in because of his beliefs that the most popular children’s series at the time, Dick and Jane, was boring and insufficient. Along side interesting analyses of children’s books from every era are truly magical interactive displays that pull even the crankiest of adults back to childhood.

The exhibit is free and goes until September 7th, 2014. I would highly suggest it to anyone and everyone.

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