I received a very kind email from Meliors Simms telling me of her mention of my blog and website on her blog, Bibliophilia. She wrote about doing bookmaking with migrant children.


Everyone over about 4 years old enjoyed making their own books, either or both of the examples I prepared. I showed them what Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord calls a Hotdog Book, which is universally popular simple structure, and a basic accordion with a folded card cover. Anyone lucky enough to be spending time with children should check out Susan's Making Books With Children blog and website. Its a brilliant example of the how-to-craft genre on the internet, full of inspiring ideas, excellent advice and clear instructions.

Visit her blog to learn about her creative work that spans genres from artists books to a film presentation of a book, chalk poetry, and her Coral Threnody project which uses crochet and embroidery.

Who Am I? Artist Book

I recently visited the Bowen Cooperative Nursery School in Newton, MA. The four year old class was learning about artists and we made a Who Am I? Book. I made a few adaptations to my usual presentation to suit the age of the children. Folding into thirds can be difficult so I drew pencil lines on each paper to serve as guides during folding. The paper was 10.5" (with lines at 3.5" and 7") by 16. 5" (with lines at 5.5" and 11"). We had plenty of adult hands to help and the kids did a terrific job. Here are directions for making your own Who Am I? Book. You can see photographs of the sample I made here.

Newburyport Literary Festival Workshop

Chris McGarry took some photos of my workshop, Think Green: Paperbag Bookmaking, at the Newburyport Literary Festival in April. You can see them at the festival blog.

Recycled Alphabet Accordion Book

I had so much fun making this accordion alphabet book of letters formed with materials from my collection of recycled materials. The pages were made from foam core left over from a political campaign project. You can also use pieces of corrugated cardboard cut from boxes. To attach the letters, I poked holes in the foam core with an awl and used yarn, ribbon, and twist ties to hold the materials in place.

I made the book in three sections as the full length accordion was too bulky and awkward to transport to workshops. I joined the individual pages by taping them in the back, leaving a little bit of space between the pages.

You can see the complete Recycled Alphabet here.

LINKS
There are too many wonderful alphabet books to choose one or two to feature so I'm giving links to some bibliographies and other websites.

From the Kalamazoo Public Library
A good list with pictures of the covers and short descriptions

From the Boston Children's Museum
A long list with a particular focus on different cultures and parts of the world

A is for Archive: One Hundred Years of Alphabet Books
View page-by-page presentations alphabet books from history. There's an Anti-Slavery Alphabet Book from 1847 (I just saw a facsimile at the Smithsonian on a recent trip to Washington) and an Alphabet of Celebrities from 1901 which include Diogenes, Darwin, and Dante for D.

Abecedarium: An Exhibit of Alphabet Books
Members of the Guild of Bookworkers created artists' books for this 1998 exhibit. An inspiring collection.

Fantastic Five: Alphabet Books

Fantastic Five: Alphabet Books is the second in the Workshop Papers Series which are reasonably priced pdfs of my workshop handouts. They include directions for projects and photographs of completed works for inspiration. Fantastic Five has directions for five alphabet books that go beyond A is for Apple. This celebration of the power of the twenty-six letters and the words they make is recommended for grades 3 and up.

Available at lulu for $2.95.