Illustration of many students and a teacher on a special rug

Special Storytime: Sophie Blackall

August 13, 2026
2:30 - 3 pm

Auditorium

Free with Museum Admission

Join us for a special storytime as Caldecott Medalist author Sophie Blackall reads from her new book Story Rug. Illustrator Phoebe Wahl will join the event via Zoom to chat about working with Sophie and making art for the book.

In Story Rug, the children of Class 203 are learning to braid. They started with hair and shoelaces, and now the children have brought rags from home. Their braid gets longer and longer until one idea transforms it into an extraordinary surprise for their teacher.

Advance tickets recommended, space is limited.

A book signing will follow the program. Can’t make it? You may reserve signed books.

Who You'll Meet

Sophie Blackall

Sophie Blackall is an award-winning illustrator of over 50 books for children, including the 2016 Caldecott Medal winner, Finding Winnie and the 2019 Caldecott Medal winner, Hello Lighthouse, which she also wrote. She has worked with UNICEF and Save the Children, UK on global health and literacy initiatives. Originally from Australia, she now splits her time between Brooklyn, New York, and the Catskill Mountains, where she has a retreat for the children’s book community called Milkwood Farm.

Artist website

Phoebe Wahl

Phoebe Wahl is an award-winning children’s book author, illustrator, and surface designer, whose work focuses on themes of comfort, fantasy, and intimacy with nature and one another. She grew up unschooled in Washington state and credits her free-range childhood in the Northwest for much of her inspiration and values. Phoebe’s first children’s book, Sonya’s Chickens was the recipient of the Ezra Jack Keats Book Award for New Illustrator, and her more recent picture book, Little Witch Hazel was an Indie Bestseller, Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Title, as well as being named one of the Best Books of 2021 by BookPage, BookRiot, Booklist and the Chicago Public Library. Phoebe lives in Bellingham, Washington.

Author Website

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