+
upworthy
Most Shared

Ever wish you could live inside your favorite book? You can at this incredible new place.

There's nothing like sharing a book with your kid — except maybe jumping inside one.

Have you ever wanted to just crawl inside your favorite book and stay there for a while?

Probably the best thing about books is the way they create entire worlds inside our minds. All it takes is a flat piece of paper (or maybe a screen) full of images and words and the limitations of the real world suddenly disappear, thrusting you into a new, expansive universe full of endless possibility.

At least, until you come crashing back down to reality. Lame.


But what if you could physically step inside that delightful and dazzling domain? And what if you could bring your friends with you to share in that otherworldly experience?

All images courtesy of The Rabbit hOle, used with permission.

Welcome to the Rabbit hOle! It's not a metaphor — it's a real-life place where you can celebrate children's literature up close.

Soon to be located in Kansas City (which gives a whole new meaning to "We're not in Kansas anymore" since it's actually Missouri), the Rabbit hOle aims to be the world's first "ExploraStorium" — a fun, fresh fusion of bookstore, discovery museum, playground, creative workshop, and interactive theater performance, all in one fantastical location.

(And yes, that capitalization of "Rabbit hOle" is intentionally stylized.)

The goal is to create a national center for the children's book, where retail, workshops, immersive experiences, and special events all coexist in a multi-level building that, well, literally feels like you're walking through a children's book.

An artist's rendering of the Rabbit hOle, which is still in its early planning stages.

"Building experiences around books in a place like the Rabbit hOle reinforces the culture of literature that nourishes the act of reading. That's as simple as it gets," said co-founder Pete Cowdin.

"There are no places where kids can celebrate the culture of books — no places that affirm and inform the activity of reading, libraries notwithstanding. Until we remedy this, we’ll always be struggling with chronic literacy problems among young people."

For more than 20 years before launching this ambitious endeavor, Cowdin and his partner, Debbie Pettid, ran the cherished Kansas City bookstore Reading Reptile. The store was brimming with 3D pop-up displays and life-size papier-mâché cutouts of beloved children's book characters like Captain Underpants, Mike Mulligan, and more. They even took these immersive aspects on tour with them, setting up temporary installations in libraries, community centers, and other storefronts.

But it still wasn't enough to fit their grandest visions.

The Reading Reptile "was forever and always a retail concern, limited by market forces and tethered to commodity culture," Cowdin said. "We had to build something outside of that space."

Enter: the Rabbit hOle.

The "Captain Underpants Pop-Up Pop-Up!" is one of the many magnificent living book installations that Cowdin and Pettid have created over the years — and an omen of what's to come at the Rabbit hOle.

"What's so brilliant about the Rabbit hOle is that it takes this private exchange, this magical forest, and carries it one step further, making it real," said author Brian Selznick.

Selznick is perhaps best known for creating "The Invention of Hugo Cabret," which inspired the award-winning film "Hugo." So he knows a thing or two about immersive experiences.

He's just one of many big-name authors and publishers getting behind the project, including Kate DiCamillo ("Flora and Ulysses"), Jon Scieszka ("The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales"), Linda Sue Park ("A Single Shard"), and even Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket.

Selznick went on to say, "There's been a lot of excitement in the movie industry regarding 3D movies, but the Rabbit hOle offers us something unique in the literary world: a 3D reading experience."

The interactive aspects of the Rabbit hOle aren't just fun and games. Well OK, they are. But that's exactly why they're great — for everyone, regardless of their age.

"Simply walking into the Rabbit hOle will make age seem irrelevant," Cowdin said. "It’s always been our intention that the Rabbit hOle be a place where kids AND adults come together around books, that the adventure is a shared adventure."

Award-winning author and board member Linda Sue Park added: "I'm thinking of it as multigenerational — as an experience for people of all ages to share. Books connect people through time and across space, and as a museum of the book, the Rabbit hOle will do the same."

That's the best thing about a place like the Rabbit hOle: It reminds us of the value of play.

The simple act of engaging in purposeless fun has been proven to help children and adults alike develop and sharpen problem-solving skills, creativity, relationship building, and so much more. It has a positive impact on the mind as well as the body — and in a modern world where everyone is always on the go, we could all use a good excuse to stop and have some fun.

Opening Day of the Rabbit hOle's first immersive gallery, featuring "The Incredible Painting of Felix Clousseau."

If all goes according to plan, the Rabbit hOle's ExploraStorium will launch in 2019. In the meantime, here's another way to visualize the magic:

A pitbull stares at the window, looking for the mailman.


Dogs are naturally driven by a sense of purpose and a need for belonging, which are all part of their instinctual pack behavior. When a dog has a job to do, it taps into its needs for structure, purpose, and the feeling of contributing to its pack, which in a domestic setting translates to its human family.

But let’s be honest: In a traditional domestic setting, dogs have fewer chores they can do as they would on a farm or as part of a rescue unit. A doggy mom in Vancouver Island, Canada had fun with her dog’s purposeful uselessness by sharing the 5 “chores” her pitbull-Lab mix does around the house.

Keep ReadingShow less
Representative Image from Canva

Let's not curse any more children with bad names, shall we?

Some parents have no trouble giving their children perfectly unique, very meaningful names that won’t go on to ruin their adulthood. But others…well…they get an A for effort, but might want to consider hiring a baby name professional.

Things of course get even more complicated when one parent becomes attached to a name that they’re partner finds completely off-putting. It almost always leads to a squabble, because the more one parent is against the name, the more the other parent will go to bat for it.

This seemed to be the case for one soon-to-be mom on the Reddit AITA forum recently. Apparently, she was second-guessing her vehement reaction to her husband’s, ahem, avant garde baby name for their daughter, which she called “the worst name ever.”

But honestly, when you hear this name, I think you’ll agree she was totally in the right.

Keep ReadingShow less

A woman looking at her phone while sitting on the toilet.


One of the most popular health trends over the last few years has been staying as hydrated as possible, evidenced by the massive popularity of 40-oz Stanely Quencher cups. The theory among those who obsess over hydration is that, when you pee clear, you’ve removed all the waste in your body and are enjoying the incredible benefits of being 100% hydrated. Congratulations.

However, according to Dr. Sermed Mezher, an NHS doctor in the UK, peeing clear isn’t always a sign of being healthy.

Keep ReadingShow less

A beautiful cruise ship crossing the seas.

Going on a cruise can be an incredible getaway from the stresses of life on the mainland. However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t an element of danger when living on a ship 200-plus feet high, traveling up to 35 miles per hour and subject to the whims of the sea.

An average of about 19 people go overboard every year, and only around 28% survive. Cruise ship lawyer Spencer Aronfeld explained the phenomenon in a viral TikTok video, in which he also revealed the secret code the crew uses when tragedy happens.

Keep ReadingShow less
Joy

Kudos to the heroes who had 90 seconds to save lives in the Key Bridge collapse

The loss of 6 lives is tragic, but the dispatch recording shows it could have been so much worse.

Representative image by Gustavo Fring/Pexels

The workers who responded to the Dali's mayday call saved lives with their quick response.

As more details of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore emerge, it's becoming more apparent how much worse this catastrophe could have been.

Just minutes before 1:30am on March 26, shortly after leaving port in Baltimore Harbor, a cargo ship named Dali lost power and control of its steering, sending it careening into a structural pillar on Key Bridge. The crew of the Dali issued a mayday call at 1:26am to alert authorities of the power failure, giving responders crucial moments to prepare for a potential collision. Just 90 seconds later, the ship hit a pylon, triggering a total collapse of the 1.6-mile bridge into the Patapsco River.

Dispatch audio of those moments shows the calm professionalism and quick actions that limited the loss of life in an unexpected situation where every second counted.

Keep ReadingShow less
Joy

Yale's pep band had to miss the NCAA tournament. University of Idaho said, 'We got you.'

In an act of true sportsmanship, the Vandal band learned Yale's fight song, wore their gear and cheered them on.

Courtesy of University of Idaho

The Idaho Vandals answered the call when Yale needed a pep band.

Yale University and the University of Idaho could not be more different. Ivy League vs. state school. East Coast vs. Pacific Northwest. City vs. farm town. But in the first two rounds of the NCAA basketball tournament, extenuating circumstances brought them together as one, with the Bulldogs and the Vandals becoming the "Vandogs" for a weekend.

When Yale made it to the March Madness tournament, members of the school's pep band had already committed to other travel plans during spring break. They couldn't gather enough members to make the trek across the country to Spokane, Washington, so the Yale Bulldogs were left without their fight song unless other arrangements could be made.

When University of Idaho athletic band director Spencer Martin got wind of the need less than a week before Yale's game against Auburn, he sent out a message to his band members asking if anyone would be interested in stepping in. The response was a wave of immediate yeses, so Martin got to work arranging instruments and the students dedicated themselves to learning Yale's fight song and other traditional Yale pep songs.

Keep ReadingShow less