Down the Rabbit Hole

Right before Christmas, I visited family in Kansas City and had the chance to visit the The Rabbit Hole. It’s a super immersive children’s literature museum that brings our favorite childhood picture books to life. I had first heard about the the project for this museum at Icon conference in 2022, when one the founders, Pete Cowdin, shared progress photos and his work with and Debbie Pettid, to make the museum become a reality. From his talk, I remember the project came from a resistance to a culture obsessed with ushering children into the workforce to create new consumers. As someone who is still very much in touch with my childhood, I deeply resonated with the mission of the museum and felt so much joy as I was reminded of all these stories that sparked my love of illustration at an early age.

You enter the exhibit through by going down into a literal rabbit hole and walk through magical glowing tunnel, exiting the human world and walk into the storybook world. On the other side of the tunnel, I was greeted by life size characters and interactive installations of my favorite storybook characters.

First stop was the world of Strega Nona.

I really loved these moving dioramas that added another layer of magic to their quaint village:

Right next door was Anatole biking through the streets of Paris toward the Duvall Cheese Factory.

I was not initially familiar with this book and after looking into the illustrator, Paul Galdone, I realized read his nursery classics as a child like The Little Red Hen.

Next, we entered scenes from Jon Klassen’s beloved “I Want My Hat Back.”

This reveal was too good:

I was so excited to see the house from Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey. My mom read this book to me many nights so I instantly recognized the beautiful blue lifework from McCloskey’s illustrations.

We also met Harry the Dirty Dog, Nicolas the Bunny, Sophie’s Tiger and Tawny Scrawny Lion:

One of my favorite rooms had the sweetest vignettes from Bread and Jam for Francis. This was another story I read hundreds of times and the little felted badgers just melted me.

Lastly and my most favorite room, Goodnight Moon! The room was so cozy and peaceful with the dimmed lights, soft carpet and sounds of the crackling fire and ticking clock.

There were many more stories included in the exhibit that I did not mention, so if you ever happen to be in KC I highly recommend it! Thanks for reading, see ya in the next post <3