Summer Journal

One of my favorite things about bookmaking is how easy it is to make small changes or additions to an existing form and have the new books feel fresh and exciting.

For the Summer Journal, make 4 hot dog booklets: one from a grocery bag and three from used US Letter/A4 paper with writing on one side only. The three smaller books are glued into the the three double page spreads of the larger book. Easy and fun. I named my three little journals Garden Journal, Beach Journal, and Rainy Day Journal.

Written directions

in Spanish

Video

Are Libraries Necessary?

Jule Siegel posted a link on the Book Arts List to this article on the Fox Chicago website:

I thought I'd share some of my comments:

I think all of us lovers of books and libraries need to speak up. Libraries, to me, are the most democratic institutions we have in this country and their existence is essential. In contrast to the Fox news article, a recent story in our local paper was about how community support stopped the Mayor from making major cuts to the library budget.

I am very interested in the digital/book debate and hope that the future holds the coexistence of books and digital media. I think the western mind has a hard time accepting duality and both instead of either/or. Our idea of progress seems to be ditch the old and embrace the new. I am hoping that maybe this time we can do keep both. There is information that is perfect to get in digital form. There is nothing like curling up with a book that you hold in your hand.

Summer School Bookmaking

I received a wonderful email from Liz Hopman who is using some of the projects from Handmade Books For A Healthy Planet and my website with her summer school class of kids from 2nd-4th grades. She reports that the kids are enthusiastic and I love the projects she has designed. Her writing ideas came from writingfix.com.

The class made the simple rubber band binding for the first hectic day with the book _All the Places to Love_. The kids made a list of their favorite places in their books. They did the Yakety Yak books the next day using the mentor text _I Am The Dog, I Am The Cat_. The kids decided they should be called the versus (vs.) books because their subjects were "against" each other. There were some pretty creative pairs: gumball vs. Pop-Tart, Mom vs. Dad, alligator vs. lion and Sponge Bob vs. Patrick.

Some other lessons she has planned are: _Silver Seeds_, (a book of acrostic poems), accordion time line book for kids to write their own acrostic poems; _Diary of a Worm_, (a journal book), stick and elastic for kids to make their own journal; and _The End_, (a backwards story), kids will make a palm leaf book with their own backwards story.

Father's Day Book

At a few of the family and student workshops I gave in the past week, kids made books for their fathers for Father's Day. It inspired me to make one in memory of mine. Several of the kids made books about their father's favorite things.

I used a piece of US Letter/A4 paper with writing on one side and a cereal box for the covers. I used paper from the collage box for the illustrations. I like the look of the design that extends across the pages but if you do it with collage papers, you'll have to recrease the folds for the book to fold up easily.


Written directions

in Spanish

Video

Some of the books from the workshop

Family Bookmaking with Kindergartners

I gave two family bookmaking workshops in Woburn, MA last week for the Title 1 Program. We used brown grocery bags and cereal boxes. I led the thirty plus students along with parents and fourth grade buddies through the making of 2 books using brown grocery bags and cereal boxes. They then filled their books using markers, stencils, and collage papers. I have a large assortment of small stencil books from Dover Publications and they were a big hit with this age. They also enjoyed the collage box. Some made books for their dads for Father's Day. Others wrote stories and drew pictures. I was gratified to hear many parents say that they would be making more books at home this summer—a perfect rainy day activity.

You can see photos from the workshop here.

Celebrating Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson has been on my mind since I just installed a set of digital compositions combining hand-lettered lines by the poet with kaleidoscopic flower imagery at the Newton Free Library in Newton, MA.

This month's project is small book in celebration of Emily Dickinson. You can put one poem in the book, or a collection. I was inspired by Emily Dickinson's fascicles, small booklets into which she copied more than 800 of her poems. While Dickinson made the small volumes from folded sheets of paper that she bound with string, this book is a simple fold and cut book that I call the Hot Dog Booklet with papers from the collage box and lines from the poet.

Written directions

in Spanish

Video

A sheet of Emily Dickinson poems for your book

My Emily Dickinson Book on flickr

My Artwork: The Emily Dickinson Series

LINKS AND BOOKS
The Emily Dickinson Museum
A wonderful site with information about visiting the Homestead in Amherst, MA (a wonderful experience) and lots of information about Emily Dickinson and her poetry.


Jeannette Winter frames a short collection of Emily's poems with the story of her sister Lavinia finding the poems after Emily's death.


Jane Yolen tells a beautiful story of poetry, love, and truth-telling based on a poem and dead bee that Emily Dickinson gave to her six-year-old nephew, Gib.


Michael Bedard tells another story of Emily's connection with children is told here by a girl who lives across the street.


Elizabeth Spires wrote this delightful small chapter book about a mouse who lives in Emily's house and is inspired to write poetry. As the white mouse Emmaline describes herself: "Before I met Emily, the great poet of Amherst, I was nothing more than a crumb-gatherer, a cheese nibbler, a mouse-of-little-purpose.

Newburyport Literary Festival Report

I had a fabulous weekend at the Newburyport Literary Festival. In addition to all the great events, I had my friend since third grade, Nancy (pen name Nancy Butler), visiting from New York State. We began with the only unfortunate occurrence--missing the opening ceremonies with a conversation between Wally Lamb and Andre Dubus III which received rave reviews from all who did have seats. I did comfort myself with the thought that even if we had arrived at what I would have considered early, we would have been too late. We had a great time at the Author's Dinner and I was surprised and pleased to find that my basket which contained Handmade Books for A Healthy Planet along with materials and tools sold for $150!

Saturday was the big day. We both presented and attended workshops.

What we presented:

Handmade Books For A Healthy Planet: Wish Scroll
I gave a workshop based on a project from the new book: a wish scroll from Ethiopia. After a guided lesson in making scroll cases from film and other plastic containers and yarn and scrolls from grocery bags, the group, which included parents and children and adults on their own, decorated the cases and wrote their wishes on the scrolls. It was wonderful to be in a room with the gentle hum of creative activity.

Hooked on Classics: A Hip Approach to Old Material
A conversation with Nancy Butler, author of Marvel Comics Pride and Prejudice and the forthcoming Sense and Sensibility and Jenny Sawyer, the delightful presenter of 60 Second Recap, an internet video site which introduces the classics to teens in entertaining 60 second videos, moderated by me. We had a great conversation. Nancy and Jenny had both looked at each other's work online so it was an informed conversation as they discussed their motivations and processes.

What We Attended:

Kakapo Rescue: Heartbreak and Hope at the Edge of Survival with Sy Montgomery
In her illustrated talk about her trip to New Zealand to document the nesting of the almost extinct Kakapo parrots, Sy spoke with excitement and deep emotion about her experience. The fragility of the lives of the individual birds and the incredible care taken by a small group of humans to ensure the survival of the species is deeply moving. I think I was not the only one who had tears in my eyes at the end. Her book for children is illustrated with photographs by Nic Bishop.

Gina Barreca reads from Its Not That I’m Bitter: How I Learned to Stop Worrying about Visible Panty Lines and Conquered the World
Gina is a feminist theorist and humorist. This time the tears forming were from laughter. She is a sharp observer of life who is not afraid of the f word (feminist) and I look forward to reading her books.

Playing With Matches, a talk by Gregory Maguire
I had a brief chance to talk to Gregory Maguire and reminisce about the class in Victorian Children's Literature we were both in at Simmons College in the 1970s before his presentation. I had to leave early to give my workshop but was inspired and delighted by what I had time to hear, especially about the friends one gathers across time and space through reading.

Polyphony: Poets Read New England
I loved the group reading of an accessible selection of poems by 19th and 20th century New England poets by members of the Pow Wow River Poets. Each poem was read by multiple poets. I was moved by both the content of the poems and the musicality of the presentation.

Closing Ceremony Honoring The Writer’s Life
The festival closed with a reading from John P. Marquand's (a Newburyport resident during his life) The Late George Apley by Anita Shreve, a poetry reading by JD Scrimgeour accompanied on piano by Philip Swanson, and a reading of John Updike's short story, The Family Meadow, in the deep, rich voice of local resident Josiah Welch.

See a small selection of photos here.