Storyland: A Trip Through Childhood Favorites™ Opening January 21

Storyland transforms seven beloved and award-winning picture books – The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter; The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats; Where’s Spot? by Eric Hill; If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff; Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault; Abuela by Arthur Dorros; and Tuesday by David Wiesner into three-dimensional play and bi-lingual (English and Spanish) learning environments. These environments highlight the six pre-reading skills defined by the Public Library Association and Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association: a disposition to read, print awareness, letter knowledge, sound awareness, vocabulary and narrative skills and comprehension.

Children explore literacy skills and concepts through imaginative, interactive experiences and dramatic play, such as:

• Families can immerse themselves in the world of The Tale of Peter Rabbit, one of the bestselling children’s books of all time. Children explore Peter Rabbit’s world as they build vocabulary and narrative skills while searching for Peter’s lost belongings, harvesting vegetables and playing in Peter’s burrow.
• The exhibit features an area based on Where’s Spot?, a well-known board book about the search for Spot the dog. Babies and young toddlers will explore sounds and images through busy wall interactives, highlighting for adults how literacy development begins at birth.
• The Snowy Day welcomes visitors to Peter’s wintry world, where a young boy explores his neighborhood after a fresh snowfall. In addition to dramatic play activities, children have opportunities to build print and sound awareness, as they build a snowperson and explore wintry sounds and words.
• Children are encouraged to reflect on their Storyland experience by creating a drawing inspired by the books and writing a caption, title or story. A digital Drawing Cam will capture the paper image and visitors can add it to an electronic gallery of other postcards for visitors to see, and email it home as a souvenir of their experience.

Storyland: A Trip Through Childhood Favorites is presented by Target with support from the State of Minnesota Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment. This project is made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services. Promotional support provided by Star Tribune.