A new exhibit at ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain lets visitors immerse themselves in the imaginative world of a celebrated children’s book author. “The Pigeon Comes to Burlington! A Mo Willems Exhibit” opened at ECHO on May 25.
Willems could be called the Taylor Swift of children’s books right now. He wrote and illustrated all of the top five most checked-out picture books of 2023 at Milton Public Library. His beloved, award-winning cast of characters includes Gerald, Piggie, the Pigeon and Knuffle Bunny.
This “play and learn” exhibit, co-organized by the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh and the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, will let ECHO visitors interact with elements of the Willemverse. They can spin laundromat washing machines to uncover Knuffle Bunny, don a wearable bus, make Willems-inspired art and launch foam hot dogs at the Pigeon. Kids will love that last one, ECHO development director Nicole Bova said, “but I also want to try it out.”
Bova used Willems’ books to help teach her own daughter, now 8, to read, and she’s “super stoked” about the exhibit. It will run twice as long as most — through Sunday, January 5. Willems won’t visit Burlington in conjunction with the exhibit, but the Pigeon will make an appearance on Saturday and Sunday, June 29 and 30.
“The Pigeon Comes to Burlington! A Mo Willems Exhibit,” at ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, 1 College St., Burlington. $16.50-$20; free for members and kids 2 and under. echovermont.org
This article appears in Kids VT, Summer 2024.
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