PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A rock star in the literary world is using his star power to help one of Philadelphia’s longest-running museums.
The Sandman, American Gods, and Good Omens are just a few of the notable works from Neil Gaiman.
The British author, who now lives in America, usually focuses on adult subjects, but he’s helping a children’s book by another author about the Mütter Museum in Center City take off.
The museum features the human body and biomedical research. It often deals with dead bodies, topics that can be a bit strong for kids, but museum curator Anna Dhody aims to change that.
“We’re just so incredibly grateful that he did take the time to do this promotion,” said Dhody, who wrote the children’s book “The Mütter Museum: A Junior Guide’s Tour of America’s Coolest Medical Museum.”
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Dhody reached out to Gaiman for his help in an unusual autograph project for the book.
“He said, ‘Yes!’ He said, ‘Yes!’ We're so incredibly grateful,” Dhody enthusiastically explained.
Her illustrator for the book drew up a special bookmark for Gaiman.
The Newbery and Carnegie Medal-winning author signed 100 bookmarks that will be spread through their first 1,000 books that they sell at the Mütter Museum online and in-person store. Each book will have a bookmark, but only 100 will have Gaiman’s signature.
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“What we’re going to be doing is a ‘Willy Wonka’ golden ticket sort of situation, where everybody who buys a copy of the book will be guaranteed [a bookmark] until we run out of stock,” said Dhody.
She said Gaiman’s help with their promotion is coming at the perfect time.
“We had to close twice for long stretches of time,” Dhody said, ”but during that period of time, one of the things that really helped keep us going was the online museum store.”
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Dhody said she really hopes that the books can help kids identify and find careers in STEM and STEM fields to which they gravitate.
The book’s proceeds will go to help fund the Mütter Museum, now in its 164th year.
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