“When the world gets too big and too loud and too busy, I like to look at little pieces of it, one at a time. / I put them in a quiet place, like museums do.” The child narrator goes on to talk about their pieces in different kinds of museums: a Museum of Things I Wonder About, a Museum of Islands, a Museum of Bushes, a Museum of Hiding Places (“What if we’re in one right now and we can’t even tell?”), a Museum of Shadows, the Sky Museum, and the Museum of Little Things. About each one, the child ponders and asks child-friendly existential questions. “Can a rock in a puddle be an island?” “Is a place between streetlights a place without shadows or a place with 100 percent shadows?” The mixed-media art is equally fascinating. Some of it is painting, sometimes with white sketches superimposed to break the fourth wall; some are shadow boxes; some are collages; and some are small sculptures, photographed. Each page is designed to make readers slow down and look at all the “little pieces, one at a time.” It’s the sort of book a child can return to again and again. (Ages 5-8)

Newbery Medalist Lynne Rae Perkins invites readers on an imagination-fueled journey through the living museum that surrounds us all. Luminous, in-the-moment, and full of wonder, The Museum of Everything inspires readers to slow down and appreciate the world. For fans of What Do You Do with an Idea?, The Most Magnificent Thing, and classics such as Time of Wonder and A Hole Is to Dig. Illustrated with extraordinary dioramas and collages.

When you feel that the world is too big and loud and busy and distracting, you can pretend that you're in a museum. It's quiet there, and you can wonder about everything: Is a rock in a puddle an island? Is a dry spot on the ground on a rainy day the shadow of a car that's just driven off? There's a museum for everything--for islands and shadows and clouds and trees, and so much more.

Newbery Medalist and acclaimed picture book creator Lynne Rae Perkins balances imagination and creativity with curiosity and facts. She has created the extraordinary artwork in three dimensions--as if each page is an exhibit or installation in a museum. A transcendent and timely picture book, The Museum of Everything encourages young readers to wonder, dream, and explore--and to learn more about the world around them.