Project by Juliette E. Dumaine (2017)
The purpose of this thesis project was to create a children’s picture book for Woodland Park Zoo (WPZ) in Seattle, WA to enhance accessibility to WPZ and to include relevant craft and activity suggestions for educational programming purposes. Accessibility was defined as providing inclusion and access beyond the physical needs of visitors and beyond the physical site. Research showed that many museums, and similar organizations such as zoos, use picture books during youth programming to introduce a concept or theme in a way children could comprehend. Working with WPZ staff, a subject (a red panda) and story topic (zookeepers training a red panda for a zoo transfer) were chosen to help fill a programming gap. This project showed that it was possible for museums and similar organizations to create educational stories for children that expand upon an exhibit. The project concluded with the completion of a children’s picture book ‘dummy’, a mock-up of the book similar to a storyboard, in preparation for approval and publication. The resulting picture book, Momo the Red Panda’s Zoo Move, along with the suggested activities, have yet to be implemented and tested at WPZ.
Keywords: Class of 2017, museum, museology, museum studies, project, children’s literature
Citation:
Dumaine, J. (2017). Picturing Museums: Creating a Picture Book for Woodland Park Zoo. Unpublished master’s project, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.