Children's Books Come to Life

Mo Willems, the beloved children’s author, is one of the most engaging writers for early readers. This fall, The Pigeon Comes to Topeka! A Mo Willems Exhibit making its Topeka premiere at the Kansas Children’s Discovery Center on September 24. Children will be delighted to play with their favorite characters including The Pigeon, Elephant and Piggie, and Knuffle Bunny. Children will love the play-and-learn exhibit where they can experience a hilarious conversation in the voices of Elephant Gerald and Piggie at a double-sided phone booth, make Elephant and Piggie dance with old-time animation, put on a wearable bus and take a drive around the exhibit, spin the laundromat washing machine and uncover Knuffle Bunny, dress up Naked Mole Rat and send him down the runway for a one-of-a-kind fashion show, and launch foam hot dogs at The Pigeon and play the plinko game to give the Duckling a cookie. In addition to these interactive activities, children will also have the opportunity to try out art techniques that Mo uses for his own books.

On October 30, a love for literature takes the stage in the play Tomás and the Library Lady at the Carlsen Center’s Yardley Hall. The bilingual musical production tells the story of the young son of migrant farm workers who spends the summer with his family following the crops north from Texas to Iowa, passing long days in the fields listening to his grandfather tell stories. When a chance encounter brings him to the local Carnegie Library, he meets the “Library Lady” who recognizes his thirst for knowledge and encourages him to read.

Theatre for Young America performs at Union Station, bringing beloved children’s classics to the stage for generations of Kansas Citians. This fall, enjoy Chicken Little, The Musical Oct. 16 – Nov. 10, a musical theater version of the timeless fable about panic in the barnyard when Chicken Little mistakenly announces that the sky is falling.  And, Nov. 22 – Dec. 27, just in time for the holidays, take the kids to see Junie B. in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells! a holiday classic featuring the beloved storybook heroine.