Making Books with Children

Pop-Up Books

2008-07-20T07:36:00.000-07:00

Carol Barton has published her second volume of The Pocket Engineer. These ingenious books provide both clear directions and do-it-yourself models that can be detached from the book, made, and then stored in pockets in the book. Additional sets of the models may also be purchased.

Carol publishes these wonderful books through her own Popular Kinetics Press. If you purchase a copy, give her your full support by purchasing directly from her website.

Carol also has a great blog, The Popular Edge, Pop-Up and Book Arts News.

I had my first exposure to pop-ups with Joan Irvine's How to Make Pop-ups. My kids and I spent many enjoyable hours with the books and they both made pop-up cards the mainstay of their correspondennce. Out of print for a while, it is again in print with the title, Easy-to-Make Pop-Ups.

You can find an excerpt from the book at Joan Irvine's website.

Living Library/Human Books

2008-07-17T04:51:00.000-07:00

"What is a book?" is a question often debated by book artists. The Living Library in east London adds a whole new dimension. The project, created by Ronni Abergel to break down prejudice and foster dialog, allows people to borrowed.

"A new kind of Library has opened, where instead of books you can borrow a Muslim - or a single father, or a transvestite, for a chat. Alex Forsyth volunteers to be lent as a 'book', and asks whether this concept can really help break down stereotypes.

A Muslim, a Catholic and a transsexual are sitting in a library. An opener to a joke this is not: It is the Living Library - where, instead of books, you borrow people. You pick a person for a 30-minute dialogue in which you can ask questions, engage in meaningful discourse or simply bounce ideas. I wait with the other 'books' to be borrowed."

The complete article about the Living Library by Alex Forsyth may be found here.

Here's one from the Christian Science Monitor.

Spirit Book Workshop in the Berkshires

2008-07-10T15:28:00.000-07:00

I will be giving a Spirit Book workshop at the Berkshire Botanical Garden on August 6. It is for adults but I thought I would mention it here.

Book Making Workshop: Build a Spirit Book
Wednesday, August 6, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Berkshire Botanical Garden
Intersection Routes 102 & 183
Stockbridge, MA 01262
413.298.3926

Members $35; Non-members $40
All levels, Bring bagged lunch
Material fee $5

Connect with your creativity and the spirit of nature in this hands-on book making workshop based on the Spirit Book Series by Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord. After an introduction to Susan's Spirit Books and a walk in the woodland, make a simple handmade book using Bhutanese paper, and add texture, imagery, and pattern. Susan's twenty years of teaching bookmaking have made her a clear and patient instructor. No art experience or creative confidence is needed; this workshop is truly for everyone.

I'll also be doing a shorter workshop at the Art Complex Museum in Duxbury, MA in conjunction with the exhibit, Artists and Books, on October 26, 1:30-3:30 pm.

You can find out more about the Spirit Books here.

Memento Hot Dog Booklet

2008-07-10T07:42:00.000-07:00

http://www.makingbooks.com/hotdog.shtml

Video Tutorial

Summer is travel time for many, whether a long trip or visiting places close to home. Here's a Hot Dog Booklet made from a gathered map or menu. I made my first one when my daughter and I and friends went to the Office (the TV show) Convention in Scranton, PA last fall. They were giving away one sheet maps with festival venues and parking areas. Being the bookmaking-obsessed person that I am, I immediately saw the map folded into a Hot Dog Booklet. I made mementos for all of us with photographs. You can use restaurant place mats, commercial maps that a lot of towns have advertising local restaurants and shops, a poster or flyer from a show.

I didn't want to carry around large pieces of paper so on the spot I folded the map the long way like a hot dog, then the hot dog in half and then in half again. The folds were in the right place for the Hot Dog Booklet which I made when I got home. I put the map on the outside (by having it on the outside when I made the first fold like a hot dog) to serve as a background and glued photos to the pages. If you put it on the inside, you'll have the map to refer to if you open up the paper. I glued photographs to the pages but you can also glue pages of drawings or writing.

Taking Back Childhood/Nancy Carlsson-Paige

2008-07-10T05:34:00.000-07:00

Nancy Carlsson-Paige has written an informative and instructive book called Taking Back Childhood: Helping Your Kids Thrive in a Fast-Paced, Media-Saturated, Violence-Filled World. It is very readable and filled with anecdotes and even better specific suggestions for handling the many situations that arise as children are raised in an increasingly consumer-driven and media-saturated society. An early chapter, "Through Their Eyes" gives a concise summary of child development from birth to ten. With my concentration on making books with children, I was pleased to see that she suggested making books in several chapters. One was in regard to limiting a seven year old's TV time:

I suggested they encourage Nina to make a books of shows she wants to watch and use the book to talk together about the content of the shows she sees. In addition I suggested that if they asked Nina open-ended questions about her favorite shows (Why do you like that show? What do you think about how the characters act on this show?) it could help her, over time, to become mofe critical about television and more media literate.

Nancy Carlsson-Paige suggested stapling pages together but of course I'd suggest something else: a Stick and Elastic Book or a Hot Dog Booklet.

Fourth Grade Poetry Books

2008-06-11T10:48:00.000-07:00

I just did a project with the fourth grade students at the Molin Upper Elementary School in Newburyport, MA. It was funded by the Newburyport Education Business Coalition from a grant proposal by teacher Pat Levitt. The grant was for each student to produce a bound collection of poetry that was written throughout the year. I sent information on border design for the pages and cover design using cut and torn paper. The students had the pages and covers ready when I came to their classes to lead them through the binding process.

We displayed some of the finished products at the NEBC Annual meeting and were pleased to receive the award for the best project. They cited the facts that it involved all the fourth grades and it was sustainable with directions and the tools provided for teachers to continue on their own in coming years as the reasons for their choice.

Flags Accordion Book

2008-06-11T10:38:00.000-07:00

http://www.makingbooks.com/indexcard.shtml

This month's project was inspired by Flag Day which is June 14 in the US. It commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States in 1777. It got me thinking what thinking about what interesting objects flags are. My kids had a small book of flags from around the world and I used to love to look at it. The project uses the index card accordion book; the 3 x 5 cards are a perfect flag shape.

I made my flag book about my family heritage with a flag for each country of origin. Since there were four different countries, I used one accordion section and four cards. I used the side panel of a grocery bag cut in half the long way for the accordion. I used index cards for the pages but you could also cut recycled paper or cereal boxes to size. I glued another set of cards to the back for information about the flags: the meaning of the colors, when they were adopted. You can adapt your book to however many flags you are using. The accordion sections are in multiples of four pages. I think it is easiest to always make sections of four and cut off any extra.

Some other book ideas:
* History of the American Flag

* Flags of the Fifty States

* Countries of the World: countries could be chosen randomly or by region, language, or geography (countries with coastlines, countries with mountain ranges, etc.)

* Class or Family Book of Flags: Each person designs his or her own flag. You might want each person to make a large one for display and a smaller one to put in the book which would hold one from each.

LINKS
Evolution of the US Flag
http://www.united-states-flag.com/evolution-of-the-american-flag.html

Flags of the 50 States
http://www.netstate.com/state_flags.htm

Flags of the World
http://www.flags.net/

Good Flag, Bad Flag: How to Design a Great Flag
Vexillology is the study of the flags. This site from the North American Vexillological Association uses examples to illustrate the principles of flag design.
http://www.nava.org/Flag%20Design/GFBF/gfbf-1.htm

Flag Concentration Game
http://www.scottishlaw.org.uk/games/concentration.html

Awkward Aardvarks Alphabet Book

2008-05-12T11:28:00.000-07:00

http://www.makingbooks.com/hotdog.shtml

Video Tutorial

This month's project comes from a workshop I gave last month on Making Alphabet Books at the Massachusetts Reading Association Conference. It is part silly sentences and part grammar lesson. Each page has a sentence with an adjective, a subject, a verb, and an adverb, all starting with the same letter. Mine were all about animals: Awkward aardvarks act amazingly. Zealous zebras zoon zestfully. I found it helpful to use a dictionary and had a blast making the book.

Make 4 hot dog booklets and glue one on top of the other. The book has 26 pages including the front and back covers. It is important that you be very careful when writing in the book. If you miss a page by mistake, your alphabet will not be in order. I suggest you go through first and write the appropriate letter in pencil on each page.

I used paper from the recycling bin that had writing on one side. When I folded the paper in half like a hot dog (the first fold I made), the writing was on the inside.

LINKS
Bibliography of Alphabet Books

There are lots of possibilities for the subject matter of an alphabet book. Looking at existing books can give you ideas.

An annotated list with images of the book covers from the Hennepin County Library in Minnesota
http://www.hclib.org/birthto6/booklistaction.cfm?list_num=202

An annotated list from the Salt Lake City Library
http://www.slcpl.lib.ut.us/good_reads.jsp?parent_id=132&page_id=409

Bembo's Zoo
Bembo's Zoo is an alphabet book of animals created from the letters of the animal's name in the font Bembo by deVicq de Crumptich. An abedecary of animals is created from the font Bembo. The animated version is delightful.
http://www.bemboszoo.com/

Abecedarium: An Exhibit of Alphabet Books from the Guild of Bookworkers
Artists' books and fine bindings by forty-two artists.
http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byorg/gbw/gallery/abecedarium/contents.htm

The Alphabet by Abba Richman
Beautiful black and white photos of the 26 letters found mostly in the urban landscape.
http://www.pbase.com/abbarich/the_alphabet

And a color version:
http://www.pbase.com/abbarich/coloured_alphabet

Hot Dog Booklet Video

2008-05-12T08:16:00.000-07:00

The PoeTree Project

2008-04-28T12:51:00.001-07:00

This year's Newburyport Literary Festival in Newburyport, MA honored local poet Rhina Espaillat. In honor of Rhina and the theme of poetry, I designed and coordinated The PoeTree Project, an outdoor installation of poems on trees near several of the Festival venues. I was inspired by an image of a folding screen by the seventeenth century Japanese artist Tosa Mitsuoki.

Students from the sixth and seventh grades at the Rupert A. Nock Middle School wrote poems on strips of tyvek with sharpie markers. They were tied to trees and bushes and were a beautiful sight fluttering in the breeze. The timing was perfect as several of the magnolias were in bloom.

In addition to the children's poems, participating Festival poets wrote poems for Rhina which were tied to the weeping cherry tree that is planted in front of the library in her name.

I was able to attend three of the poetry events: the opening evening with Dana Gioia, Rhina, Lewis Turco, and X.J. Kennedy, a breakfast with the poets with readings by members of the Powow River Poets, and the closing evening with a reading by Erica Funkhouser and Melopoeia: Poetry Recited with Musical Accompaniment with readings by Rhina and Alfred Nicol accompanied by John Tavano on guitar.

St. George's Day

2008-04-21T10:27:00.000-07:00

is April 23rd. He is the patron saint of several countries including Catalonia in Spain, England, Portugal, Georgia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Republic of Macedonia. St. George's Day in Catalonia is especially rich as it celebrates three things: St. George who fought and slayed the dragon and the day of the deaths of Miguel Cervantes and William Shakespeare (April 23, 1616). Boys and men give their girlfriends and wives roses; girls and women give their boyfriends and husbands books.

The Creative Year has a simple book project as well as directions for making a paper rose.

Green Bookmaking Workshop in Newburyport

2008-04-12T06:30:00.000-07:00

Green Bookmaking for Families
at the Newburyport Literary Festival

Saturday, April 26, 12:30-2:30
Unitarian Universalist Church (downstairs, entrance on the left if you are facing the church)
26 Pleasant Street
Newburyport, MA

Family bookmaking engages the hands, the head, and the heart. All ages are welcome to drop in to craft an environmentally green book from recycled materials. See where your imagination will take you, and have something to bring home when it's finished.

The Newburyport Literary Festival is a wonderful free event with something for all ages. Check out the website to see the complete schedule.

Opening Day

2008-04-12T06:01:00.000-07:00

http://www.makingbooks.com/whoami.shtml

Last year I was making books at the Bryn Mawr Elementary School in Auburn, MA on Opening Day of the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Everyone was dressed in Red Sox garb and the school cafeteria served hot dogs for lunch. One class made a Who Am I? Book and most of the class planned to make their books about Red Sox players. It is a reminder that children need to spend time writing about their loves and interests as well as curriculum material. This month's links are websites relating baseball and curriculum, but children can make books about their favorite stars of other sports, bands and singers, actors, actresses, dancers, and musicians. I made my book from the back panel of a grocery bag (the one without any writing). I used a cereal box for the cover and velcro instead of yarn. It's about one of my favorite Red Sox players, Jacoby Ellsbury.

LINKS

Major League Baseball
http://mlb.mlb.com/index.jsp
A good place to research players and teams.

Take Them Out To the Ball Game!
http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/lesson107.shtml
Education World has a page with lots of links to sites for using baseball across the curriculum, including the text of Abbott and Costello's Who's On First? and several sites for baseball math.

Science of Baseball from the Exploratorium in San Francisco
http://www.exploratorium.edu/baseball/index.html
Lots of good stuff including how to find the sweet spot on a bat, an experiment with bouncing and temperature, how to throw different pitches using a styrofoam ball, and much more.

Math Baseball
http://www.funbrain.com/math/index.html
Answer addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division problems and hit the "Swing" button. Correct answers are hits. Whether it is a single, double, triple, or home run is based on the difficulty of the problem. Wrong answers are outs and the game lasts for three outs. There is a choice of levels from easy to superbrain and it can be played with one or two players.

Adapted from the April 2008 issue of Making Books Monthly
Free subscriptions available at makingbooks.com.

Children's Voices: A Celebration of Poetry

2008-04-11T18:48:00.000-07:00

The Newburyport Literary Festival takes place on April 25-27. This year the Festival honors local poet Rhina Espaillat. In connection with the theme of poetry, the Firehouse Gallery has an exhibition of poems by children. Kindergartners from the Brown selected and illustrated poems while students from the Bresnahan wrote and illustrated ones of their own. The poems are on a variety of subjects: nature, the seasons, friendship, sports, food, and family and in a variety of forms: acrostic poems, limericks, diamante poems, rhyming verses, and free verse. Written on colored paper and graced with lively illustrations, the display is a visual as well as verbal treat.

Some of the poems:

I am the turquoise blue ocean of Bermuda.
It feels good when people dive in me.
I feel happy when the sun generously shines on me.
I get angry when people pollute me.

There once was a small lad from Cork.
He especially loved the pork.
He ate and he ate.
His size became great.
He realized he was a dork.

You can smell the chocolate,
You can taste the goodness,
Touch it and never stop,
And it all came from my mom.

Children's Voices will be on display through April 27 during normal Firehouse Gallery hours (Wednesday through Sunday 12-5 pm with extended viewing on performance mights until curtain time ) and throughout the Literary Festival.

PoeTree

2008-03-17T12:38:00.000-07:00

http://www.makingbooks.com/hotdog.shtml

Last fall I made a "PoeTree" by hanging small books with a poem written in each on branches I placed in an empty can. I'm taking the idea of poems on trees out into the community with The PoeTree Project as part of the Newburyport Literary Festival at the end of April. Students at the Nock Middle School are writing short poems on strips of tyvek which will hang from trees in the downtown area and in front of the Festival venues. I was inspired byan image of Japanese folding screen from the Art Institute of Chicago.

This month's project is a PoeTree. Fun at any time, it is especially appropriate for National Poetry Month which is next month.

I made small books from used 8.5 x 11 copy paper that had writing on one side. If you use repurposed paper, the writing should be on the inside when you make the first (hot dog) fold. I chose short poems by some of my favorite poets but you may want to write your own.

To make the hanger, you'll need a piece of yarn about 24" and a bead.
1. Fold one piece of yarn in half and thread folded end through the bead. Leaving a loop for hanging, tie a knot with the bead inside the knot. If you don't have a bead, you can just tie a knot.

2. Place the bead on top of the book and separate the two ends of yarn. Place one along the outside spine of the book and the other inside along the center of the book.

3. Tie a double knot at the bottom of the book.

LINKS

Writing Poetry with Jack Prelutsky
http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/poetry/jack_home.htm
A thorough and fun poetry lesson with Jack Prelutsky.

Giggle Poetry with Bruce Lansky
http://www.gigglepoetry.com/
Website of Bruce Lansky chock full of poetry and information: Poetry Class, Poetry Fun, Poetry Theater, and lots more.

The Poetry Zone
http://www.poetryzone.ndirect.co.uk/index2.htm
The Poetry Zone publishes poems by children online, has a section called Poets Talk with interviews of writers of children's poetry, and includes resources for teachers

Adapted from the March 2008 issue of Making Books Monthly
Free subscriptions available at makingbooks.com.

Adinkra Symbols Accordion Book

2008-02-14T14:41:00.000-08:00

http://www.makingbooks.com/accordion.shtml

When I was thinking about hearts and Valentine's Day, I remembered that a couple of the adinkra symbols from Ghana are heart-shaped and how attached to the symbols I became when I included an adinkra paper cloth project in Multicultural Books To Make And Share. Here's some additional information from the book:

Adinkra cloths are made in Ghana. First made as mourning cloths, they came to be used for other occasions as well. Kings and rich people commissioned cloths to speak of their power. People embarking on a new venture, such as starting a business, might commission a cloth. Most cloths are printed, although some are appliqued. The stamps for printing are cut from a gourd. The black dye is a mixture made from the boiled bark of the badie tree and an iron-rich stone. The dye is called adinkra, which means farewell. The symbols used in printing have a long tradition and deep significance. Through the symbols, each cloth communicates information about the owner, living or dead. The symbols are so much a part of Ghanaian culture that they are often used by the government and clergy. The logo of the Standards Board in Ghana is the measuring rod, which stands for excellence and intolerance of imperfection.

I used one-half of the back panel of a grocery bag for the pages and the front panel of a cereal box for the covers. I covered the covers with paper cut from the other half of the grocery bag panel. You can use this pdf from Multicultural Books To Make And Share to make patterns to trace for your own adinkra symbols book. They are designed to be traced on a folded piece of paper, then cut and opened to form the complete pattern. I traced the patterns with pencil and then outlined and colored them with black marker. For a longer book, you can follow the directions for attaching sections in the directions for the Index Card Accordion.

Links

Adinkra Symbols & Meanings
http://www.welltempered.net/adinkra/htmls/adinkra_index.htm
Extensive collection of adinkra symbols with information on meaning and in some cases images of the symbols being used in West Africa

Cool Planet: Oxfam's Site for Kids
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/coolplanet/ontheline/schools/adinkra/adinkrah.htm
Information on the history, how the cloths are made, the symbols, and a printmaking activity

Adinkra Resources
http://www.riscwebsite.org.uk/adinkra/
This website was created to accompany a book for educators. Of particular interest are the image pages which include cloths and printing blocks, production, and uses of the symbols.

The Talking Cloth by Rhonda Mitchell

African- American Amber visits her Aunt Phoebe whose house is full of things Amber's father calls junk and her aunt calls her "collection of life." Amber's favorite is an adinkra cloth from Ghana. There are descriptions of the cloth and the meaning of some of the symbols. Amber imagines the cloths she would make for her family.

Adapted from the February 2008 issue of Making Books Monthly
Free subscriptions available at makingbooks.com.

Multicultural Books To Make And Share

2008-02-14T14:28:00.000-08:00

Take a cultural journey around the world with sixteen bookmaking projects that work across the curriculum. This book makes it easy with accessible materials, hints for preparation, clear directions, and historical information.

AFRICA
Name Scroll
Learn about the development of the alphabet from Egyptian hieroglyphics with this simple scroll that uses pictures to write out a name.
Zulu Beadwork
Make a necklace or pendant with graph paper and learn about the symbolic language of beads in South Africa.

Wish Scroll from Ethiopia
Recycle a film container to make a wish scroll based on talismans made in Ethiopia for personal protection and cures.

Adinkra Cloth
Create a construction paper cloth for a historical person or book character based on adinkra cloths from Ghana.

THE AMERICAS
Winter Count
Dakota Indians counted the years by winters and marked each winter with an image drawn on a buffalo skin. Use a brown grocery bag to make your own.

Time Line Accordion
Make an accordion book with a ribbon threaded through to act as a time line and learn about the books made by the Aztecs and Mayans.

Comic Book
Write and illustrate a comic book in this simple eight page book made from one piece of paper.

Curandero Book
This project is inspired by accordion books made by Otomi Indian healers in Mexico. Illustrate your book with cut-outs made from pieces of brown bags.

ASIA
Palm Leaf Sequence Book
In India, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia, traditional books are made from palm leaves. Make your own palm leaf book from stiff paper.

Math Slat Book
Learn multiplication facts by making a slat book which was the first book form made in ancient China.

Seasons Accordion Book
Celebrate the seasons with this four page accordion book with a ribbon tie.

Book of Haiku
Sew a book with a side-stitched Asian binding and fill it with haiku and simple cut paper illustrations.

EUROPE
Rune Stone
The Vikings erected rune stones as memorials to the dead or announcements of the accomplishments of the living. Use the rune alphabet provided to make a stone for a family member, friend, historical figure, or fictional character.

Pugillares
Romans wrote notes in wooden books with wax covered pages. Make your own version with card stock and wax paper.

Newsbook
Write about a specific event in history or current events in a book modeled after the Newsbooks of Europe which were the forerunners of newspapers.

Medieval Book
Make a Medieval Book of Hours or Word Book with decorated foil covers and illuminated initials.

Click on the image for more information

Gung Hay Fat Choy: Making Books for Chinese New Year

2008-01-10T14:16:00.000-08:00

Celebrate Chinese New Year with five creative bookmaking projects. Reproducible patterns and clear directions make these books quick and easy.

Zodiac Slat Book
Based on the earliest book form in China, the Zodiac Slat Book has reproducible patterns with pictures of the animals, characteristics, and dates.

New Year Journal
A quick and easy journal bound with a chopstick and an elastic. The front cover has the Chinese word for luck.

Dragon Counting Book
Count from one to twelve with Chinese numbers. Includes dragon head and tail patterns for the front and back covers and Chinese numbers for the pages.

Book of Good Luck Symbols
Bring luck for the coming year with this book of symbols. Ribbon and beads make this accordion book special.

Lucky Red Envelope Book
Make an accordion pocket book to hold four red envelopes. Includes characters to spell out Gung Hay Fat Choy and patterns of old Chinese coins to decorate.

Click on the image for more information

Snowflake Book

2008-01-10T14:09:00.001-08:00

http://www.makingbooks.com/accordion.shtml

We are experiencing a thaw at the moment but so far this has been a winter of snow. This month's project is an accordion book with snowflakes. I first made a book with snowflakes made from the metal bases of tea light candles (this recycle, reuse, repurpose thing has really got me thinking). I made a second one with paper snowflakes which is more appropriate for children. The links lead you to information about how snowflakes are formed as well as some fun online and by hand activities.

For the top book, I used the side panel of a large cereal box for the accordion. Because it was sturdy, I didn't make covers. I made a snowflake from a tea light base for each page. I attached the snowflakes to squares cut from a leftover gift box by poking holes in the squares with a push pin and using thin wire to hold the snowflakes in place. I used tape that held various parts of a new printer in place to attach the mounted snowflakes to the accordion.

For the second book, I used the front panel of a cereal box and made the snowflakes out of paper. For a longer book, you can follow the directions for attaching sections in the directions for the Index Card Accordion.

Links
Make a paper snowflake
http://www.highhopes.com/snowflakes.html

Directions for making a paper snowflake

A Pop-up Snowflake from Robert Sabuda
http://robertsabuda.com/popmake/popmake_snowflake-step1.asp

You can make two snowflakes for a four page accordion book.

Online guide to snowflakes, snow crystals, and other ice phenomena
http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/
A comprehensive site from Kenneth G. Libbrecht who has created several books of photographs of snow crystals. Lots of beautiful images to view as well as clear scientific information.

Make a virtual snowflake
http://snowflakes.lookandfeel.com/
Make your own snowflake online. It took me a minute to understand how the scissors worked but once I did, it was fun.

Snowflake Bentley
http://snowflakebentley.com/index.htm
Vermont farmer Wilson Bentley made the first photographs of snowflakes in 1885. This website is maintained by the Jericho Historical Society which has an exhibit of his photographs.
He is the subject of a wonderful book by Jacqueline Briggs Martin and Mary Azarian.

Robert's Snow: For Cancer's Cure
http://www.gracelin.com/content.php?page=book_snowflake&display=behind_the_story

Grace Lin wrote Robert's Snow to cheer up husband Robert after he was diagnosed with cancer and could not enjoy the winter weather. After Robert's subsequent relapse, Grace turned to her illustrator friends and asked them to contribute their collective talents to the fight. The response was tremendous--the artwork created was so amazing that the 2004 snowflakes were immortalized in the book, Robert's Snowflakes. There is an annual fundraiser for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute every year in December.

Adapted from the January 2008 issue of Making Books Monthly
Free subscriptions available at makingbooks.com.

Festivals of Light

2007-12-12T10:19:00.000-08:00

Festivals of Light: Making Books for the Holiday Season
Celebrate the season with six exciting bookmaking projects for Christmas, Diwali, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. It's easy and fun to do with clear directions, accessible materials, and reproducible images for all.

Contents:

Festivals of Light Accordion Book
Make a four page accordion book with a ribbon tie. There are images provided for a Hanukkah menorah, a Kwanzaa kinara, a Christmas tree, and dipa, the clay lamps that are lit for Diwali.

Festivals of Light Triangle Book
Here is another book about Festivals of Light celebrations and customs. The fun part is that the pages are shaped like triangles.

Dreidel Book
Create an accordion book about the dreidel game. The four front pages of the book are for the dreidel letters and their meaning; the back two give directions for the game.

Seven Symbols of Kwanzaa Book
Six symbols of Kwanzaa are placed on the seventh, the mkeka or mat, throughout the holiday. This book about the seven symbols can be spread out on a table or hung on the wall for display.

Twelve Days of Christmas Book
Make a small Twelve Days of Christmas Book that can be used as an ornament with a ribbon loop.

Diwali Rangoli Book
Colorful designs called rangoli decorate the doorways and floors of homes, shops, temples, and restaurants during Diwali. Make a simple four page accordion with an envelope to hold your designs.

Peace Star Book

2007-12-12T08:24:00.001-08:00

http://www.makingbooks.com/accordion.shtml

This past weekend I was in a shop called Ten Thousand Villages in Northampton, MA which sells fair trade handcrafts from around the world. I was charmed by a star ornament which is the inspiration for the peace stars in this month's project. The links lead to a sampling of stars in art and craft.

I used half of a back panel of a brown grocery bag for my accordion pages, a cereal box for the cover, and yarn for a tie. Each page has a peace star on it. You can print the peace stars in this pdf or make your own. Another idea is to put a peace star on the cover and inside write 4 things you can do to make a more peaceful world, one per page. For a longer book, you can follow the directions for attaching sections in the directions for the Index Card Accordion.

Links

Norwegian Peace Star
A sculpture in Oslo, Norway by Vebjorn Sand has been given the name the Peace Star. The structure draws its inspiration from a star-form first conceived by German astronomer, Johannes Kepler (1571-1630.) It consists of twenty three-sided pyramids radiating from the core. The Star itself is 14-meters high and 14-meters wide. The giant structure was covered in specially fractured glass to create a dazzling illuminated sculpture visible from the air and floating above the fir trees of the countryside.

Star Corona
acrylic sculpture by George W. Hart

The Star Chamber
Sculptor Chris Drury created this domed stone chamber at Vanderbilt University. An aperture on the top functions as a camera obscura so that the sky and horizons are reflected on the walls of the chamber.

Star Book Directions
These directions are by Diane Weintraub and are one of a series from the San Diego Museum of Art.

Moravian Stars
are illuminated Advent or Christmas decorations popular in Germany and in places in America and Europe where there are Moravian congregations. The first ones were made in the 1830's at the Moravian School in Niesky, Germany as a geometry lesson or project. The geometry is beyond me as were the directions for these supposedly simpler paper stars. My mother was taught how to make them by a German neighbor when I was young but I never learned. I am not defeated but have not had the time to complete the directions on this website. You may want to try. They are lovely.

How to draw an Eight-point Star
There are directions for using the computer and for drawing with a ruler and freehand. The freehand version is the same as the star that Eric Carle says his grandmother drew for him in Draw Me A Star.

Adapted from the December 2007 issue of Making Books Monthly
Free subscriptions available at makingbooks.com.

Family Workshop at Concord Museum

2007-11-13T10:19:00.000-08:00

I will be doing a drop-in workshop for families on the day after Thanksgiving at the Concord Museum in Concord, MA from 11-2:30. It is free with museum admission. There will be four stations in the large room: one to make an accordion book, one to make a stick and elastic book, one to make a hot dog booklet, and one for decorating and adding content. We'll be using recycled materials (provided) and there will be lots of examples and inspiration for you to continue bookmaking at home.

Concord Museum
200 Lexington Road
Concord, MA
978.369.9763
Friday, November 23 (the day after Thanksgiving)
11:00-2:30
Free with museum admission

Word Books

2007-11-13T09:57:00.001-08:00

http://www.makingbooks.com/hotdog.shtml

We recently had a delightful German exchange student named Jacky with us for two and a half weeks. One of her assignments on the trip (learning and writing down five new English words each day) inspired this month's project, a Word Book. These are great for all ages: young children learning new words, high school students preparing for the SATs, students of another language, and anyone who enjoys the wonder of words. The links provide a selection of Word of the Day sites for all levels.

You will need one piece of paper and two pieces of yarn. I used one half of a newspaper page for the book and wrote the words and definitions on separate pieces of paper which I then glued to the book. If you get a newspaper regularly, you could make a book for each week starting on Sunday or Monday, do a word each day, and at the of the year have a box with 365 words.

One thing about using newspaper is that it has a very pronounced grain. You will find that it is easy to tear neatly from top to bottom, but difficult from side to side. I tore the double page in half to get one page and then cut it in half to get the size I used. To keep with using recycled materials, you can also use a piece of paper with writing on one side only. When you make the first fold (long and skinny like a hot dog) in the directions, the writing should be on the inside. To make a longer book, make several of the hot dog booklets and glue them on top of each other.

1. Follow the directions for making the hot dog booklet.

2. Open the book to the middle and lay a piece of yarn across with an even amount sticking out on either side.

3. Close the book and lay the other piece of yarn across the top of the spine with an even amount sticking out on either side.

4. Tie the yarn together at each side with a double knot.

Links

Word of the Day Sites
http://blackdog4kids.com/games/word/daily-word.html
has a range of words from easy top hard and a bunch of word games as well

http://wordcentral.com/buzzword/buzzword.php
At Merriam Webster's Word Central you can hear the word pronounced. Learn what it means and how to use it, and answer a word wiz question.

http://www.oed.com/cgi/display/wotd
The Oxford English Dictionary offers a word of the day with pronunciations, spelling, etymology, quotations, and dates

http://www.princetonreview.com/college/research/wdj.asp?wordType=2
The Princeton Review offers words for the SAT. You can also look up words for Business, Medical, and Law if you are so inclined.

http://www.transparent.com/wotd/index.htm
A word of the day in Spanish, French, German, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, and English for Spanish speakers

Adapted from the November 2007 issue of Making Books Monthly
Free subscriptions available at makingbooks.com.

Book of Leaves

2007-10-09T13:05:00.000-07:00

http://www.makingbooks.com/elastic.shtml

Fall is a time when we pay special attention to leaves in New England. This month's project is a Book of Leaves with leaf rubbings on each page. I tried the rubbings with both crayon and colored pencil and preferred the colored pencil, but you might decide otherwise. You could also attach the actual leaves or make leaf prints with paint.

You will need two or more pieces of paper, a stick, and an elastic or 2 pieces of cord or yarn. In keeping with my current focus on using recycled materials whenever possible, I used three pieces of paper that had writing on one side only (flyers that I was given at a conference).

1. Fold each paper in half the long way so that is long and skinny like a hot dog. If it has writing on it, the writing should be on the inside.

2. Fold each paper in half the other way.

3. Tuck the folded pages inside each other.

4. Punch two holes a little way in from the folded edge, one toward the top and one toward the bottom. I find that I am only able to punch through all the layers at once if I use 2 sheets of paper. If you use more, you may have to punch the holes in one or two sheets and then use that as a guide to mark the placement of holes for the rest of the paper.

5. Make the leaf rubbings on the pages. I think it is easier to make the leaf rubbings before you bind the book with the stick because the pages lay flatter. I punch the holes first to serve as a visual guide. If your rubbing is too close to the fold, part of it will be hidden under the binding.

6. Follow the directions to bind the book together. Because I wanted a more earthy look to my book than an elastic would provide, I used two pieces of hemp cord. I tied the two pieces together toward the end. I inserted the two ends in the top hole, pulled both pieces of cord along the back of the book and up into the bottom hole. I pulled the cord tightly and tied the two ends together in the front at the bottom hole.

Links

Why Leaves Change Color
A simple explanation written for children can be found at
http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/leaves.html

and a more detailed explanation at
http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/misc/autumn/autumn_colors.htm

Big Dipper and the Colors of Autumn
Retelling of Algonquin legend which explains why leaves change their color in the fall
http://starryskies.com/articles/dln/9-97/dipper.colours.html

Tree Identification
Have a leaf with you and click on the leaf key at the bottom of the page. It will lead through a process to identify your leaf.
http://www.fw.vt.edu/dendro/forsite/Idtree.htm

No Child Left Inside
Leave No Child Inside, an article by Richard Louv in the March/April 2007 issue of Orion magazine
http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/240

Richard Louv's website
http://thefuturesedge.com

Last Child in the Woods has had great impact. Giving No Child Left Behind a twist, there is a movement that grew out of the book called No Child Left Inside. I couldn't find a central website but searching No Child Left Inside will bring up many sites and blogs.

Adapted from the October 2007 issue of Making Books Monthly
Free subscriptions available at makingbooks.com.

Art, Books, And Creativity

2007-10-09T12:41:00.001-07:00

"Art, Books, and Creativity is a yearlong arts curriculum developed by the National Museum of Women in the Arts. ABC provides meaningful arts learning experiences while highlighting the natural connections between visual arts and language arts. ABC is a model for integrating the visual arts into the core curriculum while maintaining a specific focus on the contributions of women artists to our shared cultural history.

The ABC curriculum promotes visual literacy by developing students' skills in observation, reflection, and arts creation. The curriculum unites visual art and writing through the creation of artists' books, an art form especially suited to linking imagery and language."

There are directions for several book forms and creating a pop-up as well as lots of information and inspiration about integrating bookmaking into the curriculum.