Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Homer Henry Hudson's Curio Museum
Picture Book
For ages 8 to 10
Creative Editions, 2014 ISBN: 978-1568462608
The building housing Homer Henry Hudson’s Curio Museum was once a school. It survived the Columbus Day Twisters of ‘67 that carried the school house “skyward, where it leaped and pirouetted” before it landed “four towns over.” Not surprisingly, this rather remarkable building attracted the attention of an eccentric explorer called Homer Henry Hudson who turned it into a museum full of curiosities.
Every artifact in the museum has a note with it that identifies what it came from. The notes also provide visitors with a little background information about the artifacts. Here, for example, is a stuffed toy bear from Nottlandia. It was knitted using hand-spun yarn made out of Arctic Fox fur. A young girl that Homer Henry Hudson rescued from rebels during an uprising gave him the bear as a thank you for saving her life.
One of the places Homer Henry Hudson visited was a temple in the Andes Mountains There he was asked to get the temple parrot priest to give up a piece of wood that it had taken from the temple wall. As a thank you for his help one the temple’s caretakers gave Homer Henry Hudson a choir finch, which is able to chant a perfect C sharp. This finch became a part of Homer Henry Hudson’s collection.
Unbeknown to the temple caretakers, Homer Henry Hudson took the piece of wood that the parrot gave up, which turned out to be a map that showed him where a hidden city was located. He flew his plane towards the city “blinded by the sparkle of imagined treasure.” Even when his plane was enveloped by fog he flew on until he crashed, and paid a terrible price for his greed.
In this unusual picture book the author tells a story of an explorer who made a terrible choice in his past, but who finally, through the stories of his curios, realizes what has been holding him back from doing what he loves to do. Children and adults alike will be intrigued by the story, and will enjoy speculating about what Homer Henry Hudson will do next.
