The J. Houston Gordon Museum, located inside the University of Tennessee at Martin’s Paul Meek Library, is hosting the “Reading Appalachia: Voices from Children’s Literature” exhibit now through Nov. 22. This exhibit, organized by the Knox County Public Library and the East Tennessee Historical Society in Knoxville, aims to show a more complete picture of the literary heritage of the Appalachian region.

Showcasing life-size characters from regional tales, the exhibit explores books published from the late 1800s to the present and is based on research by Jamie Osborn, manager of the Halls branch of the Knox County Public Library. Visitors can stand eye-to-eye with characters from “Journey Cake Ho,” “A Mountain Rose,” “When Otter Tricked Rabbit,” “When I Was Young” and other tales of childhood in Appalachia. The exhibit also includes hands-on activities to bring the subject to life.

This is the first traveling exhibit of this scale to address Appalachian children’s literature and is made possible through the support of Clayton Homes, the Jane L. Pettway Foundation, Friends of the Knox County Public Library, and the University of Tennessee’s Center for Children and Young Adult Literature.

The J. Houston Gordon Museum is open from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Monday-Friday. All off-campus visitors must request a visitor’s parking pass from the registration desk upon entry.

For more information, contact the Paul Meek Library at 731-881-7464.

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