Digital exhibits

Online exhibits offer children's literature resources and expertise to researchers, students, and teachers around the world.

Online exhibits

Curated digital exhibits featuring a range of topics related to the history and creation of children's literature, featuring unique materials from out collections traditionally only available for on-site viewing

Collage of four illustrations: The Poky Little Puppy, Waiting for Wings, Goodnight Moon, All Fall Down

The ABC of It: Why Children's Books Matter

Although the exhibit's contents cover four centuries of literature, The ABC of It is not a strict history of children's books. Rather, it is historian Leonard S. Marcus's thesis on how "books for young people have stories to tell us about ourselves," and that "behind every children's book is a vision of childhood: a shared understanding of what growing up is all about."

Little girl, dressed in a red cape, looks tentatively at a wolf walking on two legs, wearing a monacle and doffing his top hat.

Little Red Riding Hood: A Comparative Folk Tale Study

Explore the engaging world of folklore with this digital exhibit, which examines the multifaceted angles of study for a well-known, but ever-changing text.

A tiled collage of four children's book illustrations demonstrating different media: watercolor, tempera, scratchboard, and acrylic.

Children's Book Art: Techniques and Media

An educational exhibit that takes you through the various media used by some of the country's most talented artists. From collage to watercolor to scratchboard, dive in to learn more!

An illustration of a bird on some flowers with a worm in her mouth, the left half in color, and the right half in black and white demonstrating the preseparated art illustration technique

The Making of Picture Book Illustrations: What is Preseparated Art?

Did you know that it once took four pieces of artwork to create a full color picture? The following exhibit will introduce the reader to the history of children's book illustration, specifically the influence of a labor-intensive and now-obsolete process knows as preseparation.

Watercolor illustration of elephant-shaped balloon float

Balloons Over Broadway, Melissa Sweet, and the Engineering of a Children's Book

Learn about the process of picture book creation with this exhibit that takes visitors through the researching, writing, and illustrating of Melissa Sweet's award-winning nonfiction picture book Balloons Over Broadway.

An illustration of Ella Fitzgerald in a purple dress decorated with the city skyline, singing in front of a starry sky with a cat in a green suit sitting on a crescent moon.

Rejoice the Legacy! Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney

Andrea Davis Pinkney presented the 2014 May Hill Arbuthnot Lecture on May 3, 2014 at the University of Minnesota. Ms. Pinkney is a bestselling author of over 20 books for children and young adults. The online exhibit contains representative samples of her work, accompanied by art from the books, completed by her husband, noted illustrator Brian Pinkney.