A New Exhibition at the National Museum of Nature and Science Invites Readers of All Ages to “Take a Journey with Picture Books through the History of Life”
If the mention of natural history museums conjures up fond childhood memories of monumental exhibitions to the wild world of dinosaurs and deep-sea creatures galore, then you would surely love Take a Journey with Pictures Books through the History of Life, a recent exhibition held in the National Museum of Nature and Science’s Japan Gallery. Turning a new page in the museum-going experience, the exhibition explored the theme of human evolution as depicted in a curated selection of children’s picture books in the nature and science genre. In this installment, paleontologist Makoto Manabe (aka “Dr. Dinosaur”) takes us on a special guided tour of all the highlights of the exhibition.
Visitors are greeted with bright signage
in a cheerful rainbow of vibrant green and orange tones.
Before whisking us into the gallery,
curator Makoto Manabe pauses to offer an explanatory preface:
“This exhibition unfolds in a narrative progression, with each picture book telling a larger story about the long and winding journey of life on this planet, from the birth of single-celled organisms billions of years ago, to the emergence of humans in the present day.”
The exhibition begins with the timeless
classic, Life Story. Set on a theatre stage, the book tells the history
of life in a successive series of acts, as if it were a grand theatrical
production starring the entire natural world.
“A longtime best-seller, this book has occupied a special place on bookshelves for over 50 years. Evidently, the author conducted meticulous research, frequently visiting natural history museums while creating this masterwork.”
Life Story by Virginia Lee Burton. (Translator: Momoko Ishii, Scientific consultant: Makoto Manabe. Revised edition published by Iwanami Shoten)Taking a cue from the kamishibai (“paper-theatre”) tradition of storytelling, the picture book is displayed on a screen, located at a child’s eye-level. This section of the exhibition unravels the mysteries our planet’s birth in the cosmos.
“Life Story is beloved by readers
of all ages. I think many adults will feel a pang of nostalgia when they
encounter this particular book, right off the bat. If you happen to be visiting
with young children or grandchildren in tow, it’s the perfect opportunity to
share the book, telling them how it was similarly read to you as a young child.
In this way, I felt the book would help bridge the generations, and be an ideal
introduction to the exhibition.”
The universe in place, we commence our
journey in earnest where life began, in the sea. The next gallery is flanked by
a number of picture books, but the star of the show is certainly Grandmother
Fish: A Child’s First Book of Evolution.
The book is told from the perspective of a
so-called “grandmother fish,” representing the common ancestor shared by all
humans, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and marine life. Large-scale illustrations
and text from the book fill the gallery’s walls, captivatingly telling the
story of “grandmother fish” and her many grandchildren, each with their own
unique abilities. Meanwhile, display cases feature an array of rare fossils and
zoological specimens from the museum’s collection.
Having an opportunity to see actual fossils represented by the prehistoric characters featured in the picture book provides a clearer understanding of the physical scale and lifestyles of each creature, while also transcending the eons with a very real poignancy.
Grandmother Fish: A Child’s First Book of Evolution, translated by none other than Dr. Manabe himself. (Author: Jonathan Tweet, Illustrator: Karen Lewis, Translator: Makoto Manabe, Publisher: Iwanami Shoten) The exhibition featured bilingual display plaques in both Japanese and English. Visitors could also use their smartphones to access Chinese- and Korean-language content. Meanwhile, a “reading corner” set up in the gallery’s entrance contained a library of picture books from around the world, written in German, French, Spanish, and more.
“I think natural history museums tend to
focus on the minutiae, and try to explain each individual specimen on display.
However, such scholarly attention to detail can be a little overwhelming, and
visitors might have a hard time understanding the bigger theme. This exhibition
aims to convey the larger arc of evolution, as a chronological passage of time.
Picture books are a perfect framework, as they have a natural narrative
progression. Visitors can readily conceptualize how each individual fossilized
specimen fits into the context of this larger evolutionary story.”
Grandmother Fish traces the biological lineage,
connecting humans all the way back to the earliest common ancestor. Although
dinosaurs are left out of this expansive family tree, Dr. Manabe is a household
name amongst budding paleontologists, perhaps equally well known by the
sobriquet “Dr. Dinosaur.”
“Unfortunately, dinosaurs don’t make an appearance on the direct evolutionary route toward humans. However, rest assured, I made a separate detour specifically for dinosaurs.”
The dinosaur detour created by “Dr. Dinosaur.”
This side exhibit was modeled around The
Last Living Dinosaurs – Birds. Dinosaurs were long assumed to have gone
extinct as the result of a catastrophic meteorite impact. Now, however,
scientists accept that although large dinosaurs disappeared, a subset of small,
winged dinosaurs survived on as birds. The picture book presents this theory in
a clear, accessible way.
“The book depicts a Casuarius casuarius on one page, alongside an illustration of a Tyrannosaurus on the opposing page. The caption reads, ‘A striking resemblance.’ Similarly, for this exhibition, I placed skeletal specimens of Casuarius casuarius and Deinonychus in front of each drawing. If you look closely at the pelvis, you’ll notice how the ‘holes’ are similar in birds and dinosaurs.”
Dr. Manabe explains the similarities between dinosaurs and modern birds, as depicted in The Last Living Dinosaurs – Birds (Eitaro Ohshima, Publisher: Fukuinkan Shoten).
After the detour, it’s at last time for
the mammals to make their debut. The picture-book world has been integrated
seamlessly with the specimens from the museum’s collection to spectacular
effect, drawing visitors progressively deeper into the exhibition, eager to see
the transformation into humans.
Along the way, visitors will find an informational corner, highlighting the groundbreaking work being done by researchers at the National Museum of Nature and Science toward solving the many remaining riddles of evolution.
Visitors have to duck through a small archway to reach the mammalian exhibit. As Dr. Manabe explains, “Mammals managed to survive precisely because of their diminutive size. The low archway is a physical reminder of this principle.” A special corner dedicated to the “NMNS Lab” introduces the findings of groundbreaking research being performed by the museum. Dr. Manabe: “We discovered that the nightingales on the Bonin Islands sing a slightly shorter song than their counterparts on mainland Japan. We might be witnessing the evolution of a new species.”The comprehensive exhibition traces the evolution of mammals from small, mousey creatures up to modern-day humans. Dr. Manabe: “The sloth skeleton on display shared a distant ancestor with humans. As this ancestor came to move slowly, high up in the treetops, it no longer needed a tail. Over time, this formerly long tail devolved back into a little vestigial stump. However, this shouldn’t be thought of as a backward regression. Devolution is still evolution.”
“Actually, you can also find plenty of
similar specimens on display at the neighboring Global Gallery, as part of
their permanent collection. For example, they have three complete Tyrannosaurus
skeletons. In order to truly appreciate the creature’s impressive scale,
you have to see a full skeleton.”
Visitors captivated by the chimpanzees,
sloths, and other animals featured in the exhibition can also mosey on over to
the nearby Ueno Zoo. In fact, Dr. Manabe encourages visitors to continue
exploring topics that pique their interest. From special exhibition to
permanent collection, and natural history museum to public zoo, Dr. Manabe
hopes that the exhibition helps visitors open new doors on their own paths
toward intellectual evolution.
Circling back around to the venue’s
entrance, visitors can enjoy a distinctive library stocked with around 100
picture books, including copies of the seven picture books featured in the
exhibition.
“The library is modeled after the HMS Beagle, the sailboat which Darwin rode on his travels around the world.”
The picture book corner at the gallery entrance was modeled after Darwin’s ship, the HMS Beagle. This mini library bustled with little readers during the museum’s opening hours.
The library offers an opportunity for adults to reconnect with nostalgic picture books of yesteryear, and introduce children to new favorites of their own. As the exhibition shows, picture books provide many unexpected windows into the rich world of knowledge that awaits at natural history museums. All aboard the HMS Beagle Library. Next stop: discovery!
A handy pocket-sized worksheet highlighting the location and description of crossover exhibits in the Global Gallery’s permanent collection. Fill in the names of the exhibited specimens in order to spell out a hidden message.A lumbering Triceratops pin roams Dr. Manabe’s lapel. Even his necktie sports a dinosaur motif.
Text: Eri Eguchi Photos: Fumitaka Miyoshi
Take a Journey with Picture Books through the History of Life
Venue: National Museum of Nature and Science Dates: Tuesday, December 17th, 2019 through Friday, February 28th, 2020 *Temporarily closed from Saturday, February 29th through Sunday, March 1st
Note: Information in this article current as of February 2020.
