Wild Reading: Animals in Children’s Book Art

Enjoy an adventure into the world of animals and explore their portrayal in children’s book art. Through contemporary and historic illustrations, visitors will immerse themselves in the colorful lives of wild animals -- both realistic and exaggerated. A highlight of this exhibition will be the taxidermy examples from the Bruce Museum’s natural history collection, which will be paired with their illustrated counterparts. Comparisons drawn between the illustrations and specimens address the characteristics that make each animal unique and the artistic techniques utilized to emphasize these features. 

An accompanying family gallery guide and family day will foster exciting cross-generational experiences for museum visitors of all ages.

Connections will be made to local science, language arts, and arts curriculum and standards to create an interdisciplinary visit for school-aged children and educators.

Wild Reading will feature over 30 children’s book illustrations and taxidermy specimens. The distinctive pairing of illustrated animals with their taxidermy counterparts will immerse visitors in the diverse and wild world of animals.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website