The Reed Thomason mural originally spanned the east wall of the Children's and Youth Services wing on the first floor of the old Lakewood Public Library building. In 1976 the Library had purchased the small bank building next door and annexed it as Children's Services, designed by architect Wallace G. Teare. Library Trustees commissioned Thomason for the mural in fall, 1977. Installation began in February of 1978; work was completed in July and permanent hanging took place in December of that year.

When trustee Janet Cheheyl approached Mr. Thomason about doing the mural it was with the idea that it would be a depiction of the history of the Western Reserve. Mr. Thomason suggested an alternative—characters from children's books—and submitted a trial panel. His concept was approved. As work on the mural progressed, characters from a wider array of classics emerged, such as A Midsummer Night's Dream and Faust. To Thomason, it suggests that literature keeps moving on throughout our lives and throughout the ages.

The mural consists of a dozen panels, most 5 foot by 6 foot, above the east wall book shelves. The panels are oil on canvas. In trompe l'oeil fashion, foreground characters stand or recline atop the bookshelves and one step up. Lush hues, painterly brushstrokes and a marvelous luminosity recede to a less saturated, softer rendering of more figures in a dreamy backdrop.

The mural was designed for installation atop shelving. In one panel Peter Pan's Wendy Darling sits upon a ledge just above the booksheves. She is sewing Peter's shadow to him. A spool of thread and pair of scissors are at her feet, seemingly set atop the real-world bookshelves. One morning the library's custodian reached up, thinking he would retrieve the scissors and put them away. The eye is deceived—the objects seem real and not merely represented. For artist and reader, these timeless mural characters are real. They materialize from our memories and our imagination.