My all female university residence was across the street from the Royal Ontario Museum and beside the Gardiner Museum of ceramics in downtown Toronto. (Yup, I’m a Vic Girl: Victoria College, University of Toronto, 1984). I first remember going to the ROM in grade one. we’d been studying dinosaurs and I was very excited to see the skeletons. I remember walking into the hall where they kept them and looking up at the biggest one and getting dizzy. I was overwhelmed by it’s immensity. It far surpassed my expectations. Something stirred deeply in my heart and soul and I was almost physically overwhelmed by it.
The Museum, written by Susan Verde and illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds, begins with the line,
When I see a work of art, something happens in my heart
As the protagonist makes her way through the art museum, she emerges from within. She is silly, sad, hungry and frightening. when she arrives at a blank canvas she knows just what to do. Reynolds’ illustrations bring out the energy and emotion of the text of this fun book.
Paul Fleischman’s The Matchbox Diary, illustrationed by Bagram Ibatoulline,
tells of a different sort of museum. It is a personal collection of memorabilia, saved in matchboxes. The boxes belong to a grandfather and, in opening each one, his granddaughter learns about her grandpa’s life and experiences.it is a beautiful, poignant book.
As we get wrap up the school year, I hope people are thinking about the museums they might visit and the museums they might make.
booksandbassets 