A museum is several miles of things a child is not allowed to touch, and somehow it still produces the loudest wondering of the year. Nobody comes home talking about the whole building. They come home talking about the one thing: the whale hanging from the ceiling, the mummy with its toes showing, the skull the size of a bathtub, the painting of the lady who followed them with her eyes. Everything else was corridors and a gift shop and a strong opinion about lunch.
Drawing from Bookroo’s collection of 279 museum books, our editors chose twelve for the two visits every family makes: the one on Saturday, and the one that keeps going in a child’s head all week afterward. The shortlist runs from a first trip down a marble hallway to a week spent living secretly inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with dinosaur hunters, art thieves, a frozen mammoth, and a sphinx’s long journey from Egypt in between. Below it, the board, picture, and chapter book shelves hold everything else worth borrowing before you go.
Claudia and her brother run away from home and hide out for a week inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art, bathing in the fountain and sleeping in a sixteenth-century bed.
A birthday sleepover in the natural history museum comes with headlamps, a scavenger hunt through dark halls, and one very hard decision about where to unroll your sleeping bag.
Two children fifty years apart run away toward the American Museum of Natural History — one story told in words, the other entirely in pencil drawings.
Simon has seen quite enough paintings for one afternoon, so he sits down on a bench and studies the visitors instead.
Carved for a pharaoh, smashed, buried, dug up, crated, shipped, glued back together, and finally set on a plinth in New York.
Danny goes to the museum and one of the dinosaurs decides it would like to come outside and play for the afternoon.
A beetle who can draw like Albrecht Dürer is quietly recruited for a sting operation inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The man who found the first Tyrannosaurus rex, and the museum hall that has been crowded ever since.
A ten-thousand-year-old mammoth arrives at London’s Natural History Museum, and an orphan who cleans the halls decides it ought to go home.
A small girl stops dead in a gallery, tips her head all the way back, and cannot be persuaded to move on.
A turtle with a garden growing on her shell is collected for a museum, admired by absolutely everyone, and quietly miserable.
First trips down the big hallway, dinosaur bones, and lift-the-flap galleries for toddlers ages 0–4.
Children's imaginations unlock magical worlds filled with mythical creatures.
A boy and his toy dinosaurs get lost in a museum, discovering ancient connections.
A young girl discovers art's magic and dreams of becoming an artist.
Explore a museum's wonders through a uniquely shaped, interactive board book.
A puppy vanishes in a museum. Can his friends find him amid the exhibits?
Embark on a museum adventure, exploring wonders from ancient creatures to modern marvels.
Explore a children's museum filled with dinosaurs, space, and endless fun.
Class trips, sleepovers among the exhibits, art that climbs out of its frame, and true stories of how the objects arrived — read-alouds for ages 3–8.
A boy secretly takes his classroom hamster on a field trip to the science museum, leading to unexpected adventures and discoveries.
A young girl's class goes on a field trip to a museum.
This book explores how different artists see and depict horses in their work.
Explore design's wonders through an ABC journey of museum treasures.
A bus witnesses a pivotal stand against segregation, sparking a historic boycott.
Explore art through the alphabet with a global gallery of wonders.
A girl steps into famous paintings, causing chaos and adventure in an art museum.
A school trip reveals art, friendship, and diverse families.
A city adventure with mishaps tests patience and love.
A museum sleepover turns eerie with mysterious noises in the dark. What lurks in the shadows?
Choose your adventure: horn or harp, boat or balloon. Endless possibilities await.
Explore a stunning exhibition of dinosaurs, from iconic giants to rare species, in a captivating guide.
Heists, forgeries, missing artifacts, after-hours adventures, and museums with more going on than the labels admit, for independent readers ages 6–12.
Twins must catch a thief to clear their family's name before the FBI closes in.
A school trip to a space museum unleashes rival alien tribes.
Two young detectives race to recover stolen diamonds before they vanish forever.
A young girl spots an art theft in London. Can she and her sisters catch the thief?
Explore ancient civilizations through 160 artifacts in a virtual museum open year-round.
Explore the intricate systems of the human body in a captivating museum of anatomy.
Discover the hidden world of fungi and their crucial role in our ecosystem.
A secret sketch may unravel Georgia's family ties and redefine her friendships.
A group of investigators try to solve a mystery involving stolen paintings and a museum gala.
A teen travels through time to save his parents and legendary heroes.
A sleepover at a museum turns mysterious after a loud crash. What happened to the Spinosaurus?
A group of kids and their lunch lady go on a field trip to an art museum where they uncover a conspiracy involving fake artwork
