Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum is an American-Canadian-Irish animated series based on the children's book series Ordinary People Change the World by New York Times bestselling author Brad Meltzer and illustrator Christopher Eliopoulos. The multiplatform series introduces kids ages 4-7 to inspiring historical figures — from Rosa Parks to Leonardo da Vinci — who help them learn important social-emotional concepts. The series is a co-production between the United States and Canada.
Plot[]
The series follows the adventures of Xavier Riddle, his sister Yadina, and their friend Brad. In each episode at least one of them face a problem. They then turn to The Secret Museum, a hidden room under an ordinary museum, to help them solve it. The museum allows Xavier, Yadina, and Brad to travel back in time to meet real-life historical figures when they were kids. They witness pivotal moments that shaped each of these iconic people and learn social-emotional lessons, such as being resilient in the face of adversity and making and accomplishing goals. Each episode is designed to help viewers make connections between the attributes that made each historical figure a hero and those same attributes within themselves, all while approaching history in an engaging and age-appropriate manner. Most episodes include two animated 11-minute stories with accompanying interstitial content. The double-length episodes include a 22-minute story and an interstitial (at the end in Season 1 and halfway through in Season 2). The series has also spawned an hour-long special, I Am Madam President.
Episodes[]
Main Article: Episode Guide
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Aidan Vissers (Season 1), Ian Ho (Season 2) as Xavier Riddle
- Zoe Hatz as Yadina Riddle
- Wyatt White (Season 1-Season 2 ep15, 18), Logan Nicholson (Second 2 ep16-17, 19-) as Brad Meltzer
Historical Figures[]
- Sebastian Bernhardt-Walther as Johann Sebastian Bach and Albert Einstein
- Julia Bilinska as Marie Curie
- Afrodite Drossos as Mary Shelley, Florence Nightingale, and Mary Leakey
- Liam MacDonald as Harry Houdini
- Claire Waters as Helen Keller
- Gavin McIver-Wright as Alexander Graham Bell and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- Christian Campbell as George Washington Carver, Frederick Douglass, Jesse Owens, Grandmaster Flash and Kofi Annan
- Niko Ceci as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo
- Markeda McKay as Amelia Earhart, Nellie Bly, Wilma Rudolph, Madam C. J. Walker and Gwen Ifill
- Jackson Doherty as Isaac Newton
- Hattie Kragten as Golda Meir
- William Thompson as Winston Churchill
- Saara Chaudry as Cleopatra
- Maryanne Gilbert as Catherine the Great and Eleanor Roosevelt
- Tyler Blanchard as Tomioka Tessai
- Maxim Lutterotti as George Washington and Orville Wright
- Katie Advani as Susan B. Anthony
- Shechinah Mpumlwana as Zora Neale Hurston
- Lucas Kalechstein as Charles Dickens
- Roman Lutterotti as Wilbur Wright
- Siena Bidefell as Charlotte Brontë
- Scarlett Bidfell as Emily Brontë
- Teagan Sellers as Anne Brontë
- Kaden Bowland-Trowbridge as Mark Twain
- Ana Araujo as Abigail Adams and Dorothy Levitt
- Beatrice Schneider as Julia Child, Kate Warne, Billie Jean King, Carol Burnett, Hedy Lamarr, and Lucy Maud Montgomery
- Eamon Hansen as Neil Armstrong and Theodore Roosevelt
- Jazz Stewart as Jackie Robinson (in the original I Am Jackie Robinson) and Arthur Ashe
- Elizabeth Gnidash as Anna Pavlova
- Isaak Bailey as Alexander Hamilton
- Roman Pesino as Lou Gehrig and Jonas Salk
- Holly Gorski as Marie Owens
- Alexa Cambell as Jackie Joyner-Kersee
- Emma Ho as Junko Tabei and Dolores Huerta
- Kiaha Peters as Sally Ride
- Callum Shoniker as Nikola Tesla and Abraham Lincoln
- Sage Arrindell as Maya Angelou and Mary Anning
- Chris D'Silva as Louis Pasteur
- Ava Preston as Rachel Carson
- Ian Ho as César Chávez, Confucius, and Charlie Chaplin
- Isabella Beaver as Sacagawea and Jigonsaseh
- Maria Nash as Rosa Parks
- Justice James as Thurgood Marshall
- Millie Davis as Harriet Tubman
- Cody Black as James Naismith
- Sara Ralph as Temple Grandin
- Vanessa Gojmerac as Jane Jacobs and Beulah Louise Henry
- Davide Fair as Edmund Hillary
- Ainsley Diaz as Celia Cruz
- Delia Chambers as Ella Fitzgerald, Rukmini Devi, and Mary Seacole
- Hussain Alvi as Ibn Battuta
- Milo Toriel-McGibbon as Bob Ross and Fred Rogers
- Jazmin Headley as Bessie Coleman
- Eliot Dahan as Sejong the Great
- Addison Chou as Eugenie Clark and Kristi Yamaguchi
- Greyson Machan as Benjamin Banneker
- Maddie Rose Zeltzer as Ruth Bader Ginsburg
- Athan Giazitidis as Archimedes
- Liam McKenna as James Braidwood
- Fleur Delahunty as Queen Liliʻuokalani
- Jayd Deroché as Alvin Ailey, Matthew Henson and Jackie Robinson (in the remade I Am Jackie Robinson)
- Mercedez Gutierrez as Zelia Nuttall
- Christian Corrao as Jules Léotard and William Herschel
- Sahil Aziz as Louis Braille
- Kaila Felix as Zaha Hadid
- Saul Elias as Jim Thorpe and Norval Morrisseau
- Matteo Gutierrez as Roberto Clemente
- David Kohlsmith as Edwin Binney
- Jesse Gervasi as William Shakespeare
- Nendia Lewars as Katherine Johnson
- Elvis Pan as Bruce Lee
- Skywalker Hughes as Sonia Manzano
- Charlie Zelter as Jerry Siegel
- Martin Zolotarev as Joe Shuster
- Penelope Martin as Edmonia Lewis and Esther Martinez
- Kojiro Hamasaki as David Suzuki
- Kaia Oz as Caroline Herschel
- Josias Sewlal as Willard Wigan
- Hailey Scharf as Maria Sibylla Merian
Show Elements[]
- Adventurous music - Music cue played when the kids travel to the secret museum in each episode.
- Interstitials - Short cartoons played in between segments in Season 1 during TV airings, all of which involve Berby. They include:
- Race Around the World - Berby and Xavier race around the world. Berby always wins and a Scoreboard is updated each time.
- Hide and Seek - Berby and Yadina play hide-and-seek in the museum.
- Adventures of Bradman and Berby - Berby and Brad draw comics together.
- It's You - Berby and Dr. Zoom play together while a song plays in the background.
- Alliteration - Instances of alliteration.
- Big red button - In the cold opening of most episodes, at least one of the main characters presses a button to start the show.
- Language - The use of language in the series.
- Meets - Specific promos introducing the characters.
- Promos - General promos advertising the show.
- Secret Museum Entrances - The ways that the kids get to the Secret Museum, which are different in each episode.
- Sneak Peeks - Specific promos featuring a sneak-peek of an episode.
- Storyboards - Storyboards posted by artists on their websites.
- The Translator - A device Xavier has on his hood to translate foreign languages to English. Yadina’s bracelets become her translator in Season 2.
- Timeline - A comprehensive list of dates in which the kids have gone back to visit.
- Timetravel - The method by which the characters travel back in time to meet historical figures.
Merchandise and Supplementary Material[]
The success of the show has led to a number of spin-off merchandise and media.
- Xavier Riddle Personalized Sports Bottle - Sold on the PBS Kids online shop.
- Meet Xavier! - A DVD featuring various episodes from Season 1.
- Tie-in Books - Books based on the show.
- Virtual Backgrounds - Backgrounds for use during online calls.
- Games on pbskids.org, including:
- Hero Maker, where the player can make their own hero.
- Hidden Heroes, where the player has to find a hero.
- Story Creator, where the player can make their own story based on a hero’s writing style.
- Museum Maker, where the player creates museum exhibits.
- Dr. Zoom's Portal Quest, a platformer where the player searches for Dr. Zoom after she goes missing.
- Xavier's Code the Way, where the player codes their way to get Xavier reach Dr. Zoom.
- Xavier Riddle Shorts - Eight online shorts about virtues, later used as interstitials in Season 2.
Reception[]
Critical reception[]
Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum has received critical acclaim. Rick Bentley of KGET said, "The idea is to make the show both entertaining and informative for youngsters ages 4-7, but Meltzer’s convinced there’s enough humor and historical facts to make the shows fun to watch by older viewers," and that the show "makes history fun". Sherryl Wilson of Mom Does Reviews says that the show "helps kids learn". GeekMom called the show "wacky, child-like, fun, and adventurous".
The AV Club recommended the show for viewing at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ratings[]
During its U.S. debut, Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum emerged as one of PBS KIDS’ top programs on TV and digital platforms, reaching three million children on PBS TV stations in its first six weeks on-air and streamed more than 41 million times across PBS KIDS owned digital platforms since its premiere.[1]
Awards and nominations[]
Gina Catanzarite of the Parents Choice Foundation gave the show a Gold Award, praising the show’s "delightful take on teaching kids about history" and calling it "novel and relatable".
The show has also been nominated for several awards:
- 2020 - An Annie Award for Best Animated Television/Broadcast Production for Preschool Children (I Am Helen Keller and I Am Amelia Earhart)
- 2020 - Cory Bobiak, Steven Boeckler, and Susan Hart were nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Preschool Animated Program
- 2020 - TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Youth Programming
- 2020 - Jennifer Daley was nominated for a WGC Screenwriting Award for her work on I Am Johann Sebastian Bach
- Afrodite Drossos and Ana Araujo both won Nova Star awards for playing Florence Nightingale and Abigail Adams respectively.
- 2021 - An Annie Award for Best Animated Television/Broadcast Production for Preschool Children
- 2021 - I Am Harriet Tubman won a Youth Media Alliance award for best preschool animation
- The same episode won a Canadian Screen Award and a WGC Screenwriting Award with Meghan Read and Desmond Sargeant
- 2021 - Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Daytime Animated Program (I Am Madam President) and Outstanding Directing Team for a Preschool Animated Program.
- 2021 - Nominated for a TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Youth Programming
- 2022 - Annie Award for Best TV/Media - Preschool (I Am Ella Fitzgerald)
- 2022 - Charles Johnston was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award in the category of Best Writing, Animation, for his work on "I Am Temple Grandin.
- Meiro Stamm was also nominated for a CS Award for the music on I Am Ella Fitzgerald.
Funding[]
This show is funded in part by ABCMouse.com and Kiddie Academy. Also, by Viewers Like You.
Production[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The series is based on the book series Ordinary People Change the World.
- The scenes feature cartoonish eyes popping out when one of the characters gets scared, surprised, or shocked.
- This show premiered the same day as Blue's Clues and You.
- This show premiered the day after the 50th anniversary of Sesame Street.
Videos[]
References[]
- ↑ (Source: Nielsen NPOWER L+7, 11/11/19-12/22/19, K2-11, Series & Spcls Reach, 75% unif, 1+ min; Source: Google Analytics Nov ’19 – Dec ’19)