The Museum Guide
by Nicole Sharp
DETAILS:
Publication Date: June 1, 2024
Format: Paperback
Length: 50 pg.
Read Date: May 2, 2026
What’s The Museum Guide About?
This is a very small novella, so I have to be careful not to say too much. The text on the cover describes the book very well: “A snapshot of life, love and third grade field trippers.”
We follow museum docent Martha Stein as she guides a class of third-graders through a natural history museum. Third-graders + museum = barely-controlled chaos, and we do get to see Martha and the teacher try to maintain that. But as Martha takes them around, the narration pauses to watch a security guard, an event planner, a museum visitor, someone working on a display, and so on.
We see where they are that day—their emotions, the goings on in their life, just a quick glimpse—as if they’re displays at a museum we’re strolling through.
So, what did I think about The Museum Guide?
I’m more afraid to say much here than I was above. This feels like one of those things that the more you talk about it, the worse the subject is for it. To come back to this well one too many times, it’s one of those beautiful displays in a museum that it’s best to just stand and take in rather than to try to talk about. (there’s a scene in Walter Mosley’s Ghalen that captures this wonderfully, where a man just stands in front of a painting for hours, unable to really talk about what he’s seeing)
This novella has none of the zaniness of Sharp’s other work, or really almost any other characteristic of it. However, it does have the same quality of writing, story-telling, and character. How she’s able to draw so many strong characters in a mere fifty pages is something else.
If anything, it’s assuring to see that she has another gear—as delightful as her typical gear is.
I was completely immersed in this and was utterly charmed by it. It was over too soon for my taste (although I couldn’t tell you how it could be expanded/extended without losing something).
The Museum Guide is a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon, and I’d encourage you to get it.
This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
Visit the SPAAW 2026 Hub to see what other Self-Published Appreciation Posts are out there.
Image by OpenIcons from Pixabay
The 2026 Self-Published Authors Appreciation Week Logo was made by Witty and Sarcastic Book Club