Family Trees: A Celebration of Children's Literature

The 14th annual Family Trees gives Concord’s renowned literary tradition a creative twist, as the Concord Museum is filled with fanciful trees of all shapes and sizes inspired by acclaimed children’s storybooks and contemporary picture book favorites.

Serving as inspiration for this year’s trees are books that are classics and sure-to-become classics. Selections include: Fancy Nancy: Explorer Extraordinaire, by Jane O’Connor, illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser; If You Give a Cat a Cupcake, by Laura Numeroff, illustrated by Felicia Bond; Richard Scarry’s Cars and Trucks and Things That Go; The Imaginary Garden, by Andrew Larsen, illustrated by Irene Luxbacher; The Snow Day, by Komako Sakai; Town Mouse, Country Mouse, by Jan Brett; Flotsam, by David Weisner; and many other favorites. 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.

Proceeds from Family Trees, organized by the Museum’s Guild of Volunteers, benefit the Concord Museum’s educational mission serving an audience of preschoolers, school-age children, college students, families, adults and seniors in over 600 school and public programs yearly.