So … You Want to Go Down a Rabbit Hole?
by Judy Newman
It seems to me that the meaning of “going down a rabbit hole” has changed a lot in the years that I’ve been traveling down them.
As a kid, I read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll during the summer reading program at the Newton, MA, public library. So, when the subject of “rabbit holes” came up, I thought of Alice, leaving her sister and their boring picnic, and following the white rabbit into the ground for remarkable adventures. Later, as a teenager, I connected Alice and rabbit holes to Beatrice Sparks and Grace Slick.
In my early career years as a young, striving, idealistic publishing professional who worked seven days a week, “going down a rabbit hole” meant I was wasting my time; that I was unfocused and procrastinating. Today, people speak to me about going down rabbit holes with admiration. Now it seems to imply curiosity, deep research, a good use of time—not running away, getting lost in a dream state, or squandering precious productive work minutes chasing random trains of thought.
Now, however, I can put my musings about idioms and their ever-changing uses in the English language aside because I have been to the real The Rabbit hOle, a new children’s book museum in Kansas City, MO, and it has inspired me to reflect on the ways we hold, revere, study, and literally step into children’s books.
I had never been to Kansas City, and in addition to being the home of The Rabbit hOle, there were several things I was told not to miss, such as the city library, the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, and the National Museum of Toys and Miniatures. But for this trip, I was singularly focused on experiencing the creation of Deb Pettid and Pete Cowdin, former owners of the iconic Reading Reptile Bookstore.
After closing the bookstore in 2016, Deb and Pete began translating their passion for children’s books into a 30,000 square-foot, hands-on museum that is one of the most magical and inspiring rabbit holes I have ever entered. During my visit, I watched every person who arrived, no matter their age, immerse themselves in the “radical literary wonderland” that Deb and Pete envisioned, whether they wound their way down into “the grotto,” running hands over brass letters partially embedded in rock, or got on their hands and knees to inspect the shadow boxes designed for a toddler’s eye level, or slipped off their shoes to step into “the Great Green Room,” complete with ticking clock, bowl full of mush, and a softly crackling fire.
As much as the faithfully fabricated worlds of illustrated books is center stage at The Rabbit hOle, there are books galore available throughout the exhibits—the rooms referencing authors and illustrators and their work also have adjoining shelves where multiple copies of the books are on display for reading and perusal.
For kids and adults who need a break from the sensory supercharge, you can also just be with the books. And the museum gift shop, in my opinion anyway, is the be-all-end-all of museum gift shops because it is a full-fledged bookstore! Pete and Deb’s curation of children’s books is quirky, unabashed, and authentic. Their choices promote individuality and artistry, and they are cognizant of children’s book history and diversity of voice.
As I admitted earlier, I was new to Kansas City until this April, and now, it is a place I will go out of my way to revisit, anchored by this hive, a four-story shrine to an object and subject to which I am devoted to for life: the children’s book. This hub of thinkers and creators who, while clearly are driven to create, are also driven by the cause.
When Pete and Deb shifted from owning and operating The Reading Reptile, to begin devoting their work to The Rabbit hOle eight years ago, they were quoted by their local public radio station saying, “There’s a problem in society: People don’t read to their kids regularly. There’s a ton of research about how important that is, how it opens up cognitive development that doesn’t happen without that. So why aren’t we doing it? It’s a simple thing to read 30, 40, or 60 minutes a day. The experience that happens around the book is what counts.”
I am delighted to champion as best I can, peers in literacy like Pete and Deb who are willing to throw themselves at a totally innovative venture, to wake everyone up and say, “What can we do?!” I’m all in for a subterranean exploration into the experience “around the book” and to do whatever it takes to move us all in a direction of being the most literate, expressive, curious, and thoughtful society we can be. I can’t wait to go back to The Rabbit hOle.
Judy Newman, Chief Impact Officer, Scholastic