Join the Concord Museum in celebrating the award-winning 23rd Annual Family Trees: A Celebration of Children’s Literature open daily – now through January 1, 2019.

Admire 31 fancifully decorated Holiday Trees and Wreaths inspired by themes from children’s literature throughout the Concord Museum’s new Rasmussen Education Center.

A love of books and reading is a lifelong treasure passed from adult to child, from generation to generation. Family Trees: A Celebration of Children’s Literature at the Concord Museum in historic Concord, Massachusetts gives Concord’s renowned literary tradition a creative twist.  During the holiday season the Museum decorates more than 30 fanciful trees and wreaths – of all shapes and sizes – with original ornaments inspired by acclaimed children’s storybooks and contemporary picture book favorites.

2018 marks the 23rd year of the Concord Museum’s award-winning Family Trees: A Celebration of Children’s Literature, organized by the Guild of Volunteers with Patty Flint and Pam Nelson as co-chairs. This fall, the Museum will be celebrating the opening of a new Education Center designed by the Boston architectural firm designLAB and we are pleased that the Family Trees tradition will continue in this beautiful new building.

Visitors to Family Trees will be welcomed by outdoor trees in the new courtyard and orchard.  Then, in the new welcome area and in three purpose-built classrooms, trees and wreaths will share the space with specially-installed classroom galleries housing some of the Museum’s renowned collection of historical artifacts.  Finally, the spacious new community Lyceum will be literally a forest of trees large and small. All will be decorated as visitors have come to expect with whimsical ornaments that bring to life classic and contemporary children’s books.

The exhibition’s focus on children’s literature makes Family Trees unique among the many holiday events in Greater Boston. Each tree serves as a canvas for the artistic creations of a dedicated team of volunteer decorators. Inspired by the storyline, the illustrations, the characters or setting of a particular book, the decorators let their imaginations take flight, much to the delight of visitors of all ages from all over New England.

Melissa Sweet as Honorary Chair for Concord Museum’s 2018 Family Trees

The Concord Museum is pleased to have celebrated children’s book author and illustrator Melissa Sweet serve as this year’s Honorary Chair of the exhibition.   Since 1990, Ms. Sweet has made a distinct mark in the world of children’s literature, authoring and illustrating nearly 100 children’s books from board books to picture books and nonfiction titles. She has received two Caldecott Honor Medals and two New York Times Best Illustrated citations. She will be in attendance at the December 9th Author and Illustrator Day.

A complete list of this year’s featured books may be found here.
Most of the books featured in this year’s Family Treescan be purchased at the Museum Shop!

Proceeds from Family Trees, organized by the Museum’s Guild of Volunteers, benefit the Concord Museum’s education initiatives.

 

2018 Family Trees Lead Sponsor