That’s Abilene.  Come celebrate the wonderful illustrators at the National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature.  The displays include a selection of original sketches made by the illustrator and the final published book.  It is fun to see how those sketches have been used to bring the story to life and it is an interesting way to showcase their work.  The current exhibit includes sketches created by Brian Floca to illustrate a wide range of kid’s books ranging from fantasy to books about the civil war and mans trip to the moon.

To further its claim, Abilene has sculptures of characters off the pages of great children’s books scattered along across the city.  Seuss characters gather in a shady courtyard: The Grinch, Horton, Cat in the Hat, Sam (of green eggs and ham fame), Yertle the Turtle, and The Lorax.  Six additional sculptures showcase the creations of William Joyce from the “Guardians of Childhood”.  Those aren’t as familiar to me but they look like interesting characters.  Add some dinosaurs, a duck on a bike, a boy made of beads, buffalo; it is quite the collection and they add more every year.

Celebrating reading, how can you go wrong?

We found a great bakery, McKay’s, and lunch at Wayne’s World Food Truck (brisket tacos and pulled pork sandwich).  It was a nice return to Texas BBQ.