My admiration for Marissa the Dyslexic Librarian is endless. Also apparently endless? Her creative energy! Recently, I learned that while finishing library school AND working full time, she crafted a children’s literary exhibit just for, you know, fun!
Intrigued, I grabbed my camera and headed to The Gallery at Chapin School, a private elementary and middle school in Princeton. The school regularly welcomes community artists to exhibit and teach students about their artwork. In her exhibit statement, Marissa’s described her inspirations for the exhibit, beginning with brainstorming and crafting story time projects at our library:
Part of my job at the Cotsen Children’s Library was to help develop story time projects. Once I started thinking about art and books in 3 dimensional ways, I couldn’t stop. I progressed from construction paper and card stock to eventually cardboard and paint as my projects became increasingly larger. I began to think about how I could turn the world into cardboard. I think there is something so charming and captivating about normal everyday objects being turned into art using unexpected materials.
Animal Talk: Mexican Folk Art Animal Sounds in English and Spanish, by Cynthia Weill, featuring wood scupltures from Oaxaca by Rubí Fuentes and Efraín Broa (Cinco Puntos Press, 2017).
These beautiful stick puppets are just toilet paper tubes, dowels, construction paper, and pen. Look at the lips on the cow!
This is the one piece in the show that was not directly related to a book. However, I am officially awarding it the “Golden X-Acto” award for the incredible detail work around the legs.
Miffy Dances by Dick Bruna (Big Tent Entertainment, 2010).
You might not be able to tell, but behind Miffy is a rack of cardboard clothes. The clothes and the figurine have little velcro dots so you can change her outfits and hats!
When Dinosaurs Came with Everything, written by Elsie Broach, illustrated by David Small (Atheneum Books, 2007).
I will use this dinosaur sculpture technique for a story time project. It will be so.
Gerald and Piggy, as seen on their 10th Anniversary poster, from the Mo Willems series (Hyperion Books).
The photo doesn’t quite capture it, but this adorable portrait is almost 6 feet tall!
Goldfish Ghost, written by Lemony Snicket, and illustrated by Lisa Brown (Roaring Brook Press, 2017).
This is my favorite piece in the show. I want to hug the upside-down ghost fish.
Characters from the Hilda series by Luke Pearson (Flying Eye Books, 2015).
Again, the scale! That’s a bench at the bottom of the photo. Marissa went big with these beloved characters.
At first glance, these might look like simple framed illustrations. But they are actually shadow story panels Marissa created for a story time. While the book was being read, she would shine a light through the various scenes.
Extra Yarn, written by Mac Barnett, and illustrated by Jon Klassen (Balzer + Bray, 2012).
Above you can see the details of one of the shadow story panels.
Niños Mask, by Jeanette Winter (Dial, 2003).
Right. Now it’s GAME ON for all those summer reading bulletin board displays!
Melissa Warren’s work was exhibited at The Gallery at Chapin School Princeton. Many thanks to the school for allowing us to visit and photograph!
Q: Hi Dr. Dana and Katie! I love the Top 10 posts, and I’m wondering what your Top 10 favorite blog posts are?
Katie: This 
Katie: When Dr. Dana said we were going to head to her house to take pictures and/or video of her in the shower while she 
Dr. Dana: This was an 
Dr. Dana: My specialty is unusual takes on literacy, and I think this was one of my 
Dr. Dana: As a horse-obsessed little kid, I was constantly building show jumping courses, which I would then jump over, endlessly. This 
Dr. Dana: Marissa is 
Katie: I was living in 
Like last year, we ran 3 identical rooms simultaneously, every half hour, for 5 hours. The 3 classrooms we used were lined up down a long hallway, each door marked with a different color – red, green, or blue. We also had an extra classroom to serve as a “waiting room” for kids and parents.
In between the rooms were cool displays of vintage machinery and mechanisms. Like these old record players (our 
Annnnnd drumroll please! This is what the escape room looked like…
As the kids entered, a game master welcomed them to Mr. Wonka’s “Inventing Room.” She explained that there were job openings at the world-famous factory, but in order to make the cut, the team had to solve the puzzles Mr. Wonka had left for them. They had 20 minutes to find the ultimate solution. Here we go…
Next, find the black light flashlight in the pocket of a lab coat hanging nearby:
Then head over to the lab table, which had a number of objects on it, including the aforementioned Invention Book:
The book was full of recipes, ideas, diagrams, and quirky thoughts (all Roald Dahl appropriate of course, Katie really did her research):
But shine the black light on the pages, and secret messages are revealed in UV ink!
Eventually, with several directional clues like “This way,” “Go Back,” “Stop,” or “Too Far!” you end up on this most curious page:
The clue leads to an inflatable kiddie pool filled with giant plastic “gumballs”
Count the balls, solve the equation, and you get the three digit code for lock #1 (we provided a calculator to help them with this calculation. It can be hard to do math under pressure):
Inside the lock’s chamber is a piece of paper requiring 3 measurements: 1) The length of a gummy bear’s leg; 2) The number of red candy cane stripes; 3) The diameter of Smartie’s candy. But, of course, nothing is QUITE the right size. The gummy bear, for example, was simply enormous:
When we test-piloted the room, some kids said they had trouble recalling diameter. So we snuck the information on the classroom blackboard to help out:
Once you have the 3 numbers, open lock #2, which holds a key. The key opens the pink box on the lab table, which reveals a test tube. Your instructions? Smell the tube’s contents:
The tube contained McCormick banana extract. After a good sniff, teams had to vote and select the correct flavor from a rack of test tube labeled with various fruit smells:
Once the selection was made, the game master produced a tube and said “If I add this liquid to the tube you picked…and the liquid turns purple…you WIN!” Unbeknownst to the kids, the winning “banana” test tube was filled with phenolphthalein, and the game master’s tube contained sodium carbonate. Combine them to get an awesome purple color change (sorry, the only photo I have is Katie testing it in her kitchen!):
