Brown morphs geometric shapes, spirals, and googly eyes into a charming combination of creatures — including flutterguys and girls (think butterflies with human faces), snowcrocs (snowmen with crocodile heads), and the title character, the gatorbunny — inviting users to participate in the doodling absurdity, either by adding to Brown’s sketches or composing their own.

The touch-screen color pallet (eraser included) is user-friendly enough, but it seems a significant oversight not to include a way to save each doodle as it’s made. Once you X out of each page, the doodle is lost for good, which could be a tragic loss for young artists. Additionally, the doodle feature promotes independent play, but Brown’s wacky words beg to be read aloud. I recommend for both play and story time. Available for iPad only; $9.99.

The post Dragon, Robot, Gatorbunny e-book review appeared first on The Horn Book.

In Origami X, Nick Robinson and Paul Harrison offer spy origami, plus tips and techniques for sleuthing and writing secret messages inside spy technology–themed folded shapes. Origami XOXO by Robinson and Susan Behar contains many of the same techniques for secret sharing and encoding (mirror writing, “invisible ink”), but with pink paper, cute cartoon animals, and an emphasis on friendship instead. Read together, these books will have you wondering, “Where are the girl spies?” and “Why can’t boys build friendships through passing notes?” The division between the two books may incite jealousy rather than friendship: the X origami projects are much more action-oriented and in some cases even capable of flight (e.g., ninja star, spy plane), while most XOXO origami can do no more than sit quietly (e.g., cupcake, flower).

Why the need for two very separate books? I feel there is no such need. These books should be one, so everyone can share the projects and the patterned paper. Why not mix an Origami X  lightning-patterned paper with the Origami XOXO “Beautiful Butterfly” instructions, and deem the new creation a gender-neutral falcon? Merging these two books would make for a more creative and enjoyable craft session.

And be wary of the perforated paper — it’s not exactly square, which may be a bummer for the origami perfectionist.

The post Secret Origami appeared first on The Horn Book.

[cue Star Wars theme song]

Tomorrow, Saturday October 6, 2012 is the first National Star Wars Reads Day, designed to “celebrate reading and Star Wars.” While this may be an unusual pairing, I’m all for promoting events that encourage children to read. So in honor of the inaugural event, I’ve taken a look at three new Star Wars books that have recently arrived in the office.

Some fans might say it’s never too early to get kids interested in the Star Wars universe. Perhaps that’s why Lucas Books (through publisher Scholastic) has started a line of Star Wars board books. Numbers and counting concepts aside, Star Wars 123 (July 2012) is geared more toward Star Wars-fanatic parents than their newborns. The shiny images may catch a baby’s attention for a few seconds, but the vocabulary and subject matter are a “galaxy far, far away” from what most toddlers are capable of comprehending. The book could be appreciated as a baby shower or novelty gift; in that case, consider pairing it with Star Wars ABC.

Pop-up master Matthew Reinhart’s Star Wars: A Galactic Pop-Up Adventure (Orchard/Scholastic, October 2012) would be a perfect present for school-age children obsessed with the film series — especially if they’re into the Clone Wars. Over the five foldout spreads in this book, readers learn all about the Star Wars universe as depicted in Episodes 1–3 of George Lucas’s famous film franchise. Giant pop-ups portray podracing, Nexu and Acklay monsters, General Grievous, Vulture droid fighters and a Jedi Interceptor, and Lord Darth Vader himself — complete with a light-up lightsaber that changes from Jedi blue to Sith red!! The book, a marvel of paper engineering, maximizes space by including detailed text inside foldout mini-books containing their own small pop-ups.

Darth Vader in all his pop-up glory

Even though the book focuses specifically on the Clone Wars (I admit my loyalty lies with the original films 4–6), the pop-ups are delicate, and it probably won’t have a long library shelf life, Reinhart should be commended for the book’s ambitiousness, comprehensiveness, and overall WOW-ness. I’ve got my fingers crossed for a second book featuring Episodes 4–6!

With a foreword appropriately written by middle-grade author Tom Angleberger (The Strange Case of Origami Yoda, Darth Paper Strikes Back, and The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee), Chris Alexander’s book Star Wars Origami: 36 Amazing Paper-Folding Projects from a Galaxy, Far, Far Away… (Workman, August 2012) will excite Star Wars fans who are also into making things (the same way Star Wars Legos have thrilled them for years). But be warned: this book is not for the casual origami enthusiast. The projects take a lot of practice, skill, and patience to complete (similar to Jedi training). Those who are not origami masters may end up frustrated, with a lot of crumpled paper. Though the projects are broken down by level of difficulty, don’t be deceived. I tried two of the “youngling” (easy) projects and let’s just say they are not my finest artistic achievements.

two “youngling” (i.e., “easy”) projects

I’m a little apprehensive about trying any of the harder projects after my pitiful attempts at the easy ones! The projects require a strong familiarity with origami folds, so I highly recommend reading the origami basics section thoroughly before proceeding. Each project is introduced with a brief description and a film still of the character or ship, and trivia is interspersed throughout to test your knowledge of all things Star Wars. Perhaps coolest of all: 72 sheets of specially patterned Star Wars origami paper! I spent a lot of time flipping through the book trying to decide which favorite ships and characters I wanted to re-create first. Lightsabers, R2-D2, Yoda, C-3PO, Darth Vader, Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca, The Death Star, Millennium Falcon, TIE Fighter, X-wing Starfighter, my list goes on and on. I only wish Alexander had included an origami version of an Ewok! After my failed attempts at Han and the Death Star I was disheartened, but I’m determined to persevere and keep trying out different projects in my spare time (perhaps during a Star Wars movie marathon?).

The website for tomorrow’s event shows a map of sites where events will take place in honor of the day. If you can’t make it to one of the events, activity kits on the website offer recipes, crafts, coloring pages, trivia, and games young padawans (and adult Jedi-wannabes) can do at home — including some origami and pop-ups! But as you tackle any of these projects tomorrow, remember the wise words of Yoda: “Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try.”

The post May the Force be with you (and your reading!) appeared first on The Horn Book.

Help! There is an onion trapped in this book, destined for certain death! It is up to us to save her from the Big Fry, the greatest fear of onions everywhere. But this onion has hope: “Yet I have been told / That there’s a way out / For an ONION who challenges, / Questions and doubts.”

All pretty mystifying and just plain weird, but readers interested in existential philosophizing may be tickled by the onion-like layers of meaning in Sara Fanelli’s interactive book The Onion’s Great Escape (Phaidon, May).

The book has no qualms about jumping into fundamental questions from the first peel. At the start of the volume, an onion’s face emerges from a series of solid red-washed double-page spreads. “WHO AM I?” the onion asks, soon followed by “WHO ARE YOU?” Faced with her imminent death, the onion leads us through an exploration of deep concepts like fear, time, memory, reality, imagination, and morality.

As we move from contemplation to contemplation, we punch out the onion’s perforated silhouette.

With each poignant question, we shed one more layer of the onion–or something like that. Then as we think about the onion’s thoughts and ask ourselves those same questions, we gradually free the onion from the book, and from her fate. (How exactly? I’m not entirely sure.) Then we can make a 3-D model of the onion that we’ve liberated from the prison of her pages.

Mechanically speaking, it’s hard to re-read the book once the onion has been freed, because a lot of relevant text and images appear directly on the form of the now-flown onion. But the self-actualization is worth it—at least to the onion.

"Who are you?"

The post On onions and existentialism appeared first on The Horn Book.

In a highly scientific study, I asked my own seven year old to read the first in the series. At first he was confused by being allowed to write in it (apparently I’ve successfully imparted the importance of respecting one’s books—hooray!), but once he got over that, I watched as his ideas, like the authors’, seemed to get sillier and sillier on every page. Lack of artistic talent (don’t tell him I said that) aside, he flipped that book around until every inch of white space had words or pictures. When he was done, he beamed, “Look at the book I wrote!” Reader and writer in one fell swoop? Nice touch.

And pretty smart marketing too: once the pages are filled with the ephemera of a second grader’s disturbing little mind, the book can’t be passed around from friend to friend for reuse. So, I am going to take credit for starting a new craze in at least one second grade. Nosy Crow, if you’re wondering, the answer is yes, if you insist, I will accept a commission…

The post Mash-up, indeed. appeared first on The Horn Book.

As the daughter of a Lutheran pastor, I grew up learning Bible stories; there are ways to teach religious tales without resorting to gimmicks. Why has this Christian publisher decided to present the tales in a religious doodle book? Is this a tongue-in-cheek look at the Bible stories? A way to keep kids busy/quiet during the sermon? I really can’t tell.

If the book is actually intended to teach children about the Bible, there are glaring omissions, such as bypassing the creation of Eve and skipping quickly from Jesus’ birth to his death and resurrection, with nothing about his life and his miracles in between. Leaving out important Bible stories and abbreviating others make the tales included confusing to follow despite their chronological order.

Directions instruct children to draw unfamiliar items and situations without any context: “Joseph dreamed that sheaves of grain bowed down to his sheaf. Finish this drawing” and “Naaman was healed of his leprosy after washing in the Jordan River. Finish this scene.” On the other hand, the occasional attempts at modernization (“Instead of traveling with a sack of grain, you might travel with a suitcase. Design your own suitcase here.”) are bizarrely out of place.

Other doodles are disturbing, like “God sent ten plagues. Plague number one: The water of the Nile River turned to blood. Complete the scene.” And then there’s this one:

“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into a fiery furnace because they refused to bow down to false gods. Finish this scene…and don’t forget to add the angel of the Lord!”

While I’m all in favor of not sugar-coating the stories in the Bible, maybe these stories are better told in prose and the images left to the imagination.

The post The Pocket Bible Doodle Book appeared first on The Horn Book.

I love fairy tales and superheroes, but Vincent Boudgourd’s My Beastly Book of Twisted Tales (OwlKids Books, June) and My Beastly Book of Hilarious Heroes (OwlKids Books, August) didn’t get my imaginative juices flowing. The uninspiring instructions (e.g., “Pinocchio’s candle has burned out. Color everything black”) left me wondering “what’s the point?” I was similarly unimpressed with I ♥ People: An Activity Book for Writing, Drawing, and Having Fun by Françoize Boucher (Kane Miller, September). More journal than activity project, this book belittles the reader’s intelligence on each page with attempts at witty commentary: “Are you always ready to meet new people? Even weirdos?” I couldn’t get past the first few pages.

Then I tried Hervé Tullet’s newest book, Doodle Cook (Phaidon, October).

Its premise involves taking an “empty plate” (i.e., a circle) and adding “ingredients” (e.g., shapes, squiggles, lines, etc.) to create nineteen recipes like “Zigzag Soup” and “Crayon Tartar.” In true Tullet form, Doodle Cook requires interactivity and imagination. I created a few dishes of my own:

      

and then brought my birds to life simply by changing the placement of the shapes…

I also had a little too much fun improvising the supply list to create an Alexander Calder-inspired mobile from things I found in our office (yes, those are chopsticks – we love our Thai takeout and they worked just as well as the recommended straws).

Originality, subject matter, narrative voice, difficulty level, creativity, activity duration all played a part in these books’ success (or lack thereof). Each book approaches the “activity” part differently; you’ll have to choose based on a child’s interests/age. But the right activity book is a blast to use at any age.

The post Doodle to your heart’s content appeared first on The Horn Book.

After perusing the thirteen zombie-centric projects, we settled on the paper-folding tribute to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller“—who doesn’t love an undead dance scene? And, believe it or not, the two-sheet, forty-plus–step project actually seemed like one of the less complicated of the bunch. We selected our paper (options include burlap, gore, and goop patterns along with standard black and gray) and got folding.

About an hour later, we finally had our zombies. Each one had a distinct personality, but all looked like the sample… more or less. (“Mine’s not as crooked as theirs!” “Mine looks like a ballet dancer!”)

Our single project exhausted our fingers and our attention spans. Since our group consisted of origami novices, we often had to look up specific folds, which was frustrating and time-consuming. Interpreting each step’s cryptic directions required team effort. Some advice: try one project per sitting and work with a partner.

Only 27 more steps to go!

Success! (sorta)

Between the subject matter (check out “Seymour Guts” and “Phineas Gouge”) and the daunting projects, ZombiGami is not for the faint of heart. But if you have a strong stomach and, more importantly, lots of patience, put on some mood music—may I suggest “Thriller”?—and put your paper-folding to the test.

The post Need braaains… and nimble fingers appeared first on The Horn Book.

My six- and eleven-year-old daughters had no interest in following the rambling story, thank heavens, because neither did I. What we were eager to get at were the instructions for drawing chubby Little Man and the various creatures and objects he sees, outside and at the Halloween Costume Ball. We laid the book on a table (the flexi-bound book stays open nicely), and while my older daughter and I were all about using the directions (some are trickier than others), my first grader just went ahead and drew the animals, using her sister’s pictures for inspiration.

Jack-o’-lanterns, candy, bats, and owls are all here, plus lots of cute woodland critters. An index makes it easy to look up directions for each item—a good idea, as I imagine we’ll visit this book again. While I doubt the book’s recipe for Little Man’s favorite dish, escargot, will have kids eagerly donning aprons, it might appeal to adult readers, who also might be interested in drawing some of the odd, not-so-Halloweeny items. (Anyone care to draw a grater grating some lemon zest?)

Get your Halloween on, folks, and get drawing.

The post A Halloween treat appeared first on The Horn Book.

There’s no way kids won’t think this is funny, and it does get them thinking, between giggles, about shapes and forms. The fun continues on the website, and it looks like an app is on the way. Visual art is taken out of the museum and plopped right into the zoo—just where kiddos might want to find it.

The post Wild rumpus appeared first on The Horn Book.