''The Night at the Museum'', published in 1993, is a

children's A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person young ...

picture book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The images ...

written and illustrated by

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capi ...

n illustrator

Milan Trenc Milan Trenc (born 1962) is a Croatian illustrator, animator, film director and novelist.Night at the Museum ''Night at the Museum'' is a 2006 fantasy comedy film directed by Shawn Levy and written by Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon. It is based on the 1993 children's book of the same name by Croatian illustrator Milan Trenc. The film had an ense ...

''. That same year, the movie was novelized by Leslie Goldman as a book for young adults. The story tells about Hector the night watchman who works at New York City's

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 int ...

Original storyline

Trenc's original book, ''The Night at the Museum'', is a picture story book for

children A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...

about Hector, a night watchman at the

Museum of Natural History A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. On his first night at the job, he wakes up to find all of the dinosaur skeletons have vanished. He finds nothing looking around the museum,

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...

, and at the

planetarium A planetarium ( planetariums or ''planetaria'') is a Theater (structure), theatre built primarily for presenting educational entertainment, educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navi ...

next door. Eventually Hector discovers that the dinosaurs come alive every night, and rather than keep the museum safe from the world outside, his job is to keep the world outside safe from the dinosaurs inside. A re-release was later brought to the

with a "now a major motion picture" sticker on it. This version changes Hector's name to Larry to resemble the main character of the movie.

Release details

*Trenc, Milan. (1993) ''The Night at the Museum.'' Woodbury, NY: Barron's Educational Series, ().

Novelization

Goldman's version of the book, ''Night at the Museum'', is an expanded version of Trenc's story. However, in this story every exhibit in the museum comes to life. After Larry tells his son about the strange things he sees at work every night, the son spends a night at the museum and finds out that the stories his father tells him are true. This version was included on the

New York Times Best Seller list ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. John Bear, ''The #1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York Times ...

in 2007, and was featured in ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'', ''

The New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

'' and ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and fo ...

'' magazine.(nd)
Night at the Museum
'' Barron's Educational Publishing.

Release details

*Goldman, Leslie. (2006) ''Night at the Museum: The Junior Novelization.'' Woodbury, NY: Barron's Educational Series, ().

References

External links

Milan Trenc website. *Heller, S. (2007
The Original Night at the Museum: An Interview with Milan Trenc.
AIGA. January 23, 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:Night At The Museum 1993 children's books Children's books about dinosaurs American picture books 2006 American novels American young adult novels Museums in popular culture Novels set in New York City American Museum of Natural History Children's books adapted into films Night at the Museum

Original storyline

Release details

Novelization

Release details

See also

References

External links