Making Books That Fly, Fold, Wrap, Hide, Pop Up, Twist, & Turn: Books for Kids to Make

This is a lot of fun for kids or adults. The instructions are step by step and are clearly written. They're also augmented by line drawing of how to do the folds and where to cut. Pictures of finished books are also shown so you can see how it should turn out. There are pictures of kids making these crafts throughout the book which makes it kid friendly. There are also ideas on themes for the books so it's a little more than just about the mechanics of folding but also ideas on content. The gypsy wagon for example has little cards that you put into each of the folds so she has you write a story in the cards first - by the end you have a really cool folding book that is interactive and tells a story. As I mentioned, this is great for kids of all ages (like me at 36 years young). I'm planning on making some booklets to incorporate into altered books and journals.

I enjoy arts and crafts and have ever since I was a kid. My mother was a working artist with an MA in studio arts and art education, and she had a genius for running a three ring circus in her own art classes. At any one time she could have up to two or three projects going for anything from K-12, college classes, private lessons, and special ed groups. Although she didn't actually teach me "art" her example, and encouragement, and the availability of almost every conceivable art material at home gave me an opportunity to try almost every medium. Ms Diehn is probably one of the few authors on arts and crafts that even remotely compares with my mother's influence. Making Books that Fly, Fold, Wrap, Hide, Pop Up, & Turn is a marvelous example of a how-to book that not only gives one ideas but encourages one to come up with them on ones own as well. It's exuberance also encourages the learner to "go ahead and try it!" It combines information on how to do it, with history on the evolution of books and book art. The author gives simple instructions that any person who can read can understand and illustrations that are understandable enough that the pre-literate individual may put the instructions to work with only a little help. More than anything the author has instilled a sense that art is a process, a fun process; it is what artists do. Like most processes, art is also something one experiences; it's a feeling. Like my mother, she shows that there are no real "rules" about what makes something a work of art; when one gets right down to it, art is just as the old hackneyed phrase has it, "just what you like." There is probably nothing worse than an art teacher who disparages the creativity of the students in her charge. I have friends who refuse to do anything remotely artistic because they had an art teacher that "thought anything less than Rembrandt was a waste of time!" as one of my former roommates said. How sad. In Ms. Diehn I find an artist like my mother, who had a lovely collection of student art, someone who loves the process and is able to convey her passion to the reader. I hope to make several of the ingenious little books Ms Diehn illustrates for Christmas gifts for my friends. We've all got pretty much all we want by way of material goods-and anything they might like and don't have I probably couldn't afford anyway!-so these charming books will permit me to give them something of sentimental value. We've shared a lot of years together and what better way to preserve the memories! An impressive little art book.

This book was written for younger readers, but I will find it very useful for my rubberstamping projects. I was glad to find easy to follow instructions for many kinds of books all in one book. Now I won't have to search through my magazines and printouts to find instructions for a project.The books are fun and easy to do, but the results are impressive.

While this book is written for young people, these projects can easily translate into adult projects. The book includes some fundamental book making but also takes you, step-by-step, to more complex design, stitchery and concepts as you go from chapter to chapter. The coptic stitch is woven into pages 28-30 so subtly that you may not immediately realize its intricacy. What is fascinating about Books that Fly is its imagination and introduction to the wonder of books. It takes the reader on a magic tour of books.