Something magical is hanging on the walls of the Orlando Museum of Art this fall — and chances are your kids already know it by heart.
“Hello Sophie!: The Artwork of Sophie Blackall” brings the original illustrations of one of the most beloved children’s book artists in the world to Orlando’s Loch Haven Park. Sophie Blackall, the Australian-born, Brooklyn-based illustrator behind more than 50 children’s books — including the New York Times best-selling Ivy and Bean series — is a two-time winner of the Randolph Caldecott Medal, American children’s literature’s highest honor, for Finding Winnie (2016) and Hello Lighthouse (2019).
The exhibition, organized by the National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature in Abilene, Texas, puts visitors face-to-face with the actual artwork behind the printed pages: the brushstrokes, sketches, and tiny details that make her characters feel so alive. There’s something wonderful about seeing an illustration you once read at bedtime hanging in a museum gallery — it’s the perfect first museum experience for young art lovers.
The show runs September 11, 2026 through January 3, 2027 in the museum’s McKean Gallery, and families get plenty of reasons to return: hands-on Art Adventures workshops, bilingual storytimes celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month inside the exhibition, and the museum’s popular free-admission Family Days. If you’re looking for a plan beyond the theme parks this season, this is pure happy news.
Photo: Orlando Museum of Art
