Fun with Hand Shadows

This book is simple to follow, but produces so many great animal shadows. It's great for all ages. My favorite part about it though is that each shadow comes with a cute little poem about the animal you are showing, making it even more entertaining. This was an excellent purchase, especially for the price.

As a kid, I was fascinated with my uncle's ability to create various creatures on the wall using just his hands. We're expecting a number of kids over the holiday season, and I'm honing my shadow making skills. There are plenty of websites devoted to this "art", but books are much easier to use, in my experience -- the portability can be very helpful when one is searching for a wall unencumbered with paintings and other extraneous stuff. This collection of older shadow figures is easy to follow and the results are very satsifying for showman and audience alike. During Victorian times, hand shadow creators gained a degree of fame, and Henry Bursill was one of the stars. I found this bit on one of his stone scultures at a site devoted to relatively unknown sculptors of the era: "Henry Bursill, who was a London sculptor who was better known for his writings on hand sculpture (popularised again by a Dover reprint, still in print today), but he deserves coverage on these pages for his statues for Holborn Viaduct in London. He made two of the four allegorical figures there and all four of the stone statues of great London mayors, of which only two survive. The allegorical figures are Agriculture and Commerce, depicted as rather full-figured girls in long gowns, large sleeves and sandals. Commerce looks the more ideal and calm-faced, while Agriculture is merely blank-faced. The Mayors are Sir Thomas Gresham and Henry Fitz Eylwin - both are strong figures, posed heroically. The only other work by Bursill I have actually seen is an 1869 work on top of the former Wiltshire and Dorset Bank, in Salisbury, and shows the city's arms supported by two seated girls, one holding a lamb, the other a cornucopia. Again rather full-figured, with long hair and nicely-posed hands. A shame they are too high up to be properly appreciated." This Dover edition lies flat, a great advantage when creating the figures. In addition, Frank Jacobs has included a bit of poetry for each shadow. It's easy to read the book aloud -- great emotion sells best -- since the light source has to be behind your hands. Lovers of "Mad Magazine" will delight in Jacobs's zany poems; he has contributed over 500 pages to the magazine over the years and is a master of light verse. These two examples from a book on fictional head stones of sports figures are a fair sampling of his work (from Mad About Sports): "Poncho Epstein 1952-1975 -- jumps the net with delight; one foot cleared; one not quite." "Big Al Busby 1937 to 1972 -- hits the pins; made them fall; with his hands still in the ball." I feel an odd sense of joy making the hand shadows taught by a sculptor well over a century ago. Jacobs adds a sense of life and satiric humor. Kids always seem to enjoy the show. I know I do. Robert C. Ross 2009

What is most important here is that my kids really like it. The instructions were easy to follow. Seller was good to work with.

This book is a gem! It is wonderfully old-fashioned with small poems, and yet it is timeless with the hand shadows. Illustrations show the hand and the shadow, giving the reader a clear idea of how to make the proper shadow and how it should ideally appear. The hand shadows are easy enough to do, and really look like the animal they are supposed to represent! Good fun for all ages... especially those who are home bound, in hospital, or wanting quiet time with small children. Easy to do, easy to learn, and gratefully--- easy to remember!