Your Favorite Non-Fiction Answering "WHEN?"


Alison Morris - January 7, 2009

9 Replies

We’re on Day 3 of a 7-day non-fiction stretch! Yesterday was "WHAT?" Monday was "WHO?" Today is "WHEN?" which means it’s your turn to rave about your favorite non-fiction books about history. OR about the subject of time, I suppose. (Though I might call that "WHAT?" or "HOW?" or "HUNH?" because it’s such a mind-bending concept. Read Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman if you know not of what I speak.)

Let me briefly remind you that tomorrow is WHERE? and Friday is HOW? and Saturday is WHATEVER! (meaning any non-fiction, period) and Sunday is HOLE DAY, when we fill the non-fiction holes of the publishing world.

For those of you wondering where "WHY?" is in all this, the honest to goodness truth is that I FORGOT TO INCLUDE THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION when I laid out the plan for the week and wrote the week’s first post!! (Picture me smacking my own forehead. HARD.) But, we can pretend that the reason "WHY?" doesn’t appear here is because EVERY book should speak to that question or at least leave readers asking it. Right? Doesn’t that make sense? Therefore EVERY book belongs in the "WHY?" category — even those that leave us wondering WHY they were published in the first place!

Now back to "WHEN?". Once again I could list some ridiculous number of favorite books but I will instead list TWO and let the rest of you list as many as your little non-fiction-loving hearts desire!

First I choose… a NEW favorite.

‘Twas the Day Before Christmas : The Story of Clement Clarke Moore’s Beloved Poem by Delana Bettoli, illustrated by Brenda Seabrooke (Dutton, September 2008)
I was unexpectedly charmed by this new holiday-themed non-fiction book, which turns out to contain a captivating story depicting, of all things, THE WRITING PROCESS! (Huzzah!) In this story we learn what prompted Clement Clark Moore to write his classic Christmas poem, and watch as the ordinary bits and pieces of his day become key words and images in the final product. Seabrooke’s bright, folksy illustrations beautifully evoke the world of Manhattan Island in 1822.

Next I choose… a newISH favorite.

We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson (Hyperion, January 2008)
We knew the man could paint like nobody’s business, but isn’t it humbling to observe that Kadir Nelson can also write with such precison? I love the engaging tone of this book, the interesting facts in this book, the very human way it expresses the voices and thoughts and beliefs of a chapter in history and an empire in American sports. And then there are the paintings. OH, the paintings. I would have bought this book for those alone. But how nice that all the non-illustrated pages in this book are more than worth having too!

And now it’s your turn! So far this week there have been relatively few folks chiming in with suggestions, but let me just say that those of you who have been commenting have been supplying some truly great suggestions. I hope those of you NOT commenting have at least been taking notes!

Your Favorite Non-Fiction Answering "WHAT?"


Alison Morris - January 6, 2009

11 Replies

This is "Your Favorite Non-Fiction Week" here at ShelfTalker. Yesterday I asked you to tell the world what non-fiction books answering the question "WHO?" (i.e. biographies) are on your list of favorites. Today, I’m inviting you to tell the world about your favorite non-fiction books that answer the question "WHAT?" What is this, what is that, what are we made of, what are we doing, what is is all about? Tell me WHAT you are thinking!

Just to remind you of the themes still remaining this week (in case you’ve forgotten), tomorrow (Wednesday) = WHEN? Thursday = WHERE? Friday = HOW? Saturday = WHATEVER! (A non-fiction free-for-all.) And Sunday is HOLE DAY, when you tell the publishing world (plus the rest of us) what non-fiction holes need filling.

Now back to today’s topic: "WHAT?" Again, I’ll kick off the discussion with two "WHAT?" favorites of my own:

Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women by Catherine Thimmesh, illustrated by Melissa Sweet (Houghton Mifflin, 2000)
This book straddles both WHO and WHAT and HOW, but it’s the "WHAT" — the inventions — that make this book so interesting. From things as seemingly mundane as chocolate chip cookies and Wite-Out to the "space bumpers" that make NASA’s work a lot safer, we learn how a number of important inventions and the girls and women who created them.

How Big Is It? A Big Book All About Bigness by Ben Hillman (Scholastic, 2007)
My inarticulate six-word review of this book is this: "This book is so freakin’ cool." Yes, the title contains the word "HOW" but it qualifies for "WHAT" because its photocomposite illustrations allows readers to better conceptualize the idea of size, thereby answering for them the question, "What would X actually look like?" Imagine that X is a tsunami, for example. If I tell you a tsunami can be 1,720 feet high, you might look at me blankly. But if I show you the photo in this book in which a 1,720-foot tsunami towers over a city of tall buildings, you’ll get the idea. And wait’ll you see how easy it would be for a 12-foot-tall polar bear to sink a basket! So cool!

Okay, those are my "WHAT?" books for today. What are yours?

Your Favorite Non-Fiction Answering "WHO?"


Alison Morris - January 5, 2009

14 Replies

Susan E. Goodman recently wrote a post for the I.N.K. (Interesting Non-Fiction for Kids) Blog in which she observed that in response to my "Build a Bookstore" posts last month, many of you (and I!) failed to include many non-fiction suggestions in our short lists of "must-have" titles for bookstores.

I think there are several possible reasons for this — at least FOUR, which is the number I’ll enumerate here. The first is the simple fact that I limited the number of titles you could recommend (just five each!), thereby limiting the possible slots that could be occupied by non-fiction. (Notice how much more effective that was, though, than when I allowed people to list up to 10 books for the adult category…!) The second is the fact that the first books we "expect" to see on any store’s shelves are often either "hot" titles or classics, and there are far fewer non-fiction than fiction books that fall into either of those categories.

The third reason I’ll suggest hinges on the fact that I asked readers to list books that they’d expect "any decent bookstore" to carry, when I’m not sure the average reader expects even most "decent" bookstores to have a fantastic selection of children’s non-fiction, because I don’t think such selections are the norm. How many bookstores do you know that have a truly STELLAR children’s and YA non-fiction section? Probably not that many, unless you’re lucky enough to live in an area with great independent bookstores with a real emphasis on children’s books. The lack of children’s non-fiction in any given store, though, is probably less often a statement about a buyer’s preferences, than a statement about what’s selling in that store’s market. In my observation (and from what I’ve heard from bookseller after bookstore) children’s and YA non-fiction generally sells less well than fiction, at least to the average bookstore customer.

For this reason most stores’ children’s non-fiction sections contain an odd hodge-podge of titles — ideally enough to satisfy people looking for books on a few specific subjects but not so much non-fiction as to bog down their inventory. Children’s bookstores tend to do much better than we general bookstores do in this area, but nevertheless, non-fiction for kids and teens is the area where we crown the libraries king. A decent library has an infinitely wider and deeper non-fiction selection than any bookstore could dream of carrying.

My observation is that the average adult customer rarely browses the children’s non-fiction shelves unless they’re a.) a teacher or librarian, b.) an adult reader who tends to stick to non-fiction, or c.) a parent who’s very involved in their child’s education (be it as a homeschooling parent or otherwise). The average customer (child or adult) WILL go pointedly to the children’s non-fiction shelves when they need a book about a specific subject (i.e. sharks or Abraham Lincoln), but otherwise? Most of them spend considerably less time browsing the non-fiction section of a bookstore than they do the fiction. (To my endless frustration as a buyer!!)

And HERE we have my FOURTH suggestion for why there were so few non-fiction titles to emerge during "Build a Bookstore Week": I think it’s easier to conjure up a list of favorites if we compartmentalize things a bit. Just as, when it comes to movies, I find it easier to name the year’s "Best Comedy" and "Best Drama" (thank you, Golden Globes) than lump everything together and name one "Best Picture," I find it much easier to tell you my favorite non-fiction books about nature, or my favorites about the arts, or sports, or… name a subject.

With these things in mind, and because I really DO want to give non-fiction its due, I’m proposing another week-long swath of sharing. We’ll call this one "Your Favorite Non-Fiction" and it’ll work like this: Today you’re invited to share your favorite children’s and YA non-fiction books that answer the question "WHO?". In other words, today is biography day. And, yes, autobiographies and memoirs are also welcome here.Yes, I’m giving biographies their own day and not lumping them in with history ("WHEN?") on Wednesday, because there are just soooo many good books that fit the "WHO?" bill!

I am NOT limiting you to a number of titles on any of these days, because I think there will be less overlap here, and really — I want to know what non-fiction books you think are the best, be there two of them or twenty-two! If you’ve got time to give a reason beside each of them, so much the better. If not? Then just a list of titles + authors will do.

Tuesday’s list of books will answer the question "WHAT?" which is probably the week’s most open-ended category, but it saves me having to do one day of science, one day of nature, one day of sports, one day of art, one day of music, and so on through every topic under the sun. Any book that answers "WHAT?" to you is welcome here. (Note that you may have to think hard about whether something is more "WHAT?" or "HOW?" which is Friday’s subject.)

Wednesday is (you guessed it) "WHEN?". That means history books belong here — specifically world history, which isn’t specific at all. (And world history does include American history, you realize.)

Thursday’s theme will be "WHERE?" This is your chance to tackle geography, world cultures, maps, atlases, and so on.

Friday, as I’m already mentioned, will feature books that tell us "HOW?" which can mean how things work, how people work, how things in this world came to be, how someone did something, made something, said something. And HOW!

Saturday (yes, we’re going all the way into next weekend) will be reserved for WHATEVER! That means Saturday will be a non-fiction free-for-all. Any books that don’t conveniently answer one of the week’s five questions or that speak equally to all of them (The Race to Save the Lord God Bird is one of these beauties) can go here.

And finally, SUNDAY. Sunday is HOLE DAY. No, not Holy Day (though for some of you it might also be that), but HOLE Day. This is where I invite you to tell the world the specific topics on which you think we desperately need (or would just do well to have) MORE non-fiction books. There are definitely holes in the non-fiction world. Name them on Sunday so that the writers of the world may be inspired to start filling them.

Now, without further ado (and I realize there was a LOT of "ado" before you got to this point) let’s move on to your favorite non-fiction books about "WHO?". To get the ball rolling I’m going to name a few of my own. I could go on for pages and pages here but I’ve already done that today, so… SIX. I’m stopping at SIX. (ugh!)

This Land Was Made for You and Me: The Life and Songs of Woody Guthrie by Elizabeth Partridge (Viking, 2002)
I had little interest in the life of Woody Guthrie when I started reading this book and by the end I was buying his CDs in bunches plus reading lengthier "adult" books about the guy (which, I might add, were not half as good as this one). To me the BEST sort of non-fiction is the kind that does this — makes you care, flips a switch, lights a spark;leaves you wondering. My brain felt larger and more open when I finished reading this book, which is one of those feelings I wouldn’t trade for anything.
Hana’s Suitcase by Karen Levine (Albert Whitman, 2003)
I love the unusual structure of this book, which unravels like a mystery. Two parallel plotlines, revealed in alternating chapters, eventually converge at a point that answers the book’s central question: what ever happened to Hana? I’ve had great success recommending this one to kids in grades 5 – 9.

Chuck Close, Up Close by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan (DK Ink, 1998)
It pains me (PAINS ME!!!) that this book is out of print, as I think it’s such a valuable tool for discussions of so much MORE than just art. For one thing it’s a great book about living with a disability, be it a learning disability or a physical disability, as Chuck has lived with and risen above both with astonishing success. Oooooh do I ever love this book!! BRING IT BACK!

Rocks in His Head by Carol Otis Hurst, illustrated by James Stevenson (Greenwillow, 2001) 
This is one of my favorite, favorite books to give as a graduation gift. This is the heartwarming, oddly inspiring story of a man whose passionate love for and knowledge of one subject (geology) ultimately landed him a wonderful job and a formal education, though he’d never gone after either. I get a lump in my throat just thinking about it.

Gertrude Is Gertrude Is Gertrude by Jonah Winter, illustrated by Calef Brown (Atheneum, February 2009)
I love the playful tone of this ode to writer Gertrude Stein by Jonah Winter whose books just keep getting better (as if they weren’t already good enough). It is wonderful to read a book that makes non-fiction (and writing non-fiction) seem FUN, and this one certainly accomplishes that, while introducing young readers to a woman they’d have been unlikely to encounter until much later in life had Jonah not decided to change that.
 
Of Beetles and Angels: A Boy’s Remarkable Journey from a Refugee Camp to Harvard by Mawi Asgedom (Little, Brown, 2002)
Mawi’s memoirs about his family’s move, as refugees, from rural Ethiopia to suburban Ohio is eye-opening, moving, entertaining and inspiring. This is one of those books that should be read by both kids (grades 5 and up) and their parents, all of whom are likely to find it speaking to them.

It is TORTURE to stop at just six but I don’t want to steal from any of your picks, so… Go! Write! Fill the comments with great WHO? books. Introduce the world to great biographies and who knows? Maybe all bookstores’ non-fiction sales will improve!

Name a Bookish Breakfast Cereal


Alison Morris - January 2, 2009

43 Replies

Is your new year off to a good start? With a healthy breakfast? (If not, it doesn’t bode well for that "eat better" resolution you made after a couple of beers on New Year’s Eve.)

Gareth and I are big cereal eaters, for convenience sake, more than anything else. Perhaps that’s why CEREAL (of all things) came to mind for me when Gareth and I were having a recent conversation about how he could best merchandise his graphic novels (both current and future). Imagine the fun of pouring yourself a bowl of Odyssey-O’s every morning! I’m picturing little sticks of bran fused together to resemble wooden rafts with marshmallow sea monsters added to the mix. Yummm… classic goodness.

Apart from Count Chocula, which presumably owes its inspiration to Dracula, I can’t think of any cereals with names derived from classic books. This despite the fact that the word "cereal" owes its origins to Ceres, the Roman goddess of grain, which suggests to me that the classics really should have a place in the cereal aisle.

With that in mind, Gareth and I tried to come up a list of bookish breakfast cereal names, only to find this task SURPRISINGLY difficult. But ridiculously fun.

Here’s the complete list of what we came up with:

Odyssey-O’s

Scarlet Letters

A Raisin in the Sun Bran

Agatha Crispies

Branna Karenina

Bran of Green Gables

As You Like ‘Ems

O Cap’n My Cap’n Crunch

But after that short list we ran out of ideas, which is why I am turning to all of YOU! You, YOU clever people have more great cereal suggestions, don’t you? You are DYING to coin the names of some bookish breakfast cereals! I can tell! So, please do so. Give us all a good laugh to start off the new year.

AND… because good, really commercial, sugar-filled cereal boxes often include prizes, I’m going to offer a sort of "prize" here too, which will hopefully make you all the more inclined to participate in this exercise. Gareth and I will, together, design and do a drawing of the cereal box for the suggestion that we like the best. I’ll post that drawing here and credit you with the name of the cereal, and everyone will get yet another hearty laugh out of this ridiculous exercise. (We hope!)

If you need some cereal names to refer to for inspiration check out the very lengthy list (with photos of cereal boxes) on theimaginaryworld.com. If you need book titles to work from, peruse the selections in "Fiction, Youth and Adults" at classicbooks.com.

Now get cracking. Or crackling. Or snapping and popping.

Three-Toed Tracks, Three Books with the Facts


Alison Morris - December 30, 2008

2 Replies

Gareth’s and my search for an ideal wedding site found us at a woodsy site in New Hampshire last Sunday, enroute to Boston from Vermont. Because the place we were visiting sees relatively little action in the winter, both we and our tour guide were surprised to find that ANOTHER party had already made the rounds of the place earlier in the day. Their group, though, had made a very different impression on the place: a three-toed impression, to be more precise.

If I’d thought to put down a quarter or something to indicate scale you’d see that what appears above are the footprints of a rather large bird. At first glance we saw only one line of tracks and thought, maybe they’d been made by a heron. But no. Once we saw many, many more sets of tracks we realized that "heron" was probably not the answer to our "What left those tracks?" question. After all, when was the last time you saw herons traveling in flocks like this?

No, it appeared that there had been a rather large congregation of birds in this place, AND that they had walked approximately the same path we were walking, on rather large feet. You can see Gareth’s rather’s large feet (and tracks) in the photo below, which might allow you to make some comparisons. 

Our final guess as to the species that left these marks? Wild turkeys. (If you were thinking geese, note that the feet leaving these tracks weren’t webbed.) I later verified our suspicions using what? A children’s book, OF COURSE. (It is true, though, that you can easily find photos of turkey or heron tracks online too.)

As luck would have it, THIS is the year to spot unfamiliar animal tracks and use a children’s book to help you determine their origins. There are at least three books on animal tracks that have come out this year. All three of them are good, and two of them include the tracks of a turkey (just in case you were wondering).

My favorite of 2008’s available offerings is Jim Arnosky’s Wild Tracks! A Guide to Nature’s Footprints (Sterling, April 2008). This wonderful book actually includes life-size renditions of animal tracks on gatefold pages, so you can really get a sense of each animal’s size AND more easily compare the illustrations on the pages to the prints you find in your yard (or potential wedding site). Yes, this book includes the prints left by a turkey, in addition to those left by other birds, many reptiles, and a number of mammals, ranging in size from chipmunks to polar bears.

Who’s Been Here? A Tale in Tracks by Fran Hodkins, illustrated by Karel Hayes (Down East Books, October 2008) works for a younger audience than Jim Arnosky’s book, as it sets up a simple scenario in which three kids follow their Golden Retriever on a romp around the outskirts of town, noticing the tracks of other creatures along the way. This simple introduction to tracking would work for kids as young as preschool-age. And it will indeed introduce them to a turkey and its prints.

The most comprehensive of this year’s tracking book options is National Geographic’s Animal Tracks and Signs by Jinny Johnson. With 192 pages, this book introduces readers to the tracks and signs of over 400 different animals — in other words, it leaves a lot more than just footprints. It’s a bit less concise to use when, say, looking up the tracks of a turkey (which are NOT included in the book), but it’s the best of the options here when it comes to helping readers understand the variety of ways that animals make their marks on the environment — marks we can all find if we learn where and how to look for them.

I plan to brush up before our NEXT visit to a would-be wedding site!

One Way to Add More Windows to a Window Display


Alison Morris - December 29, 2008

1 Reply

I wound up starting my holiday vacation earlier than originally planned, curtailing my available time for blogging, so I’m sorry if any of you were missing my missives last week. In order to avoid the nasty weather predicted for Wednesday, Gareth and I drove north to Montpelier, Vt., late Tuesday night, where we stayed until yesterday. While in town we made the usual rounds to our favorite Montpelier stops, which include Bear Pond Books, home of wonderfully creaky wooden floors, many a fabulous tome, and (among others) the always welcoming Jane Knight, the store’s sweet and savvy children’s book buyer.

During our brief store visit on Dec. 26th, I snapped a few photos of Bear Pond’s ingenious Advent calendar-like window display (which we’d first seen during our visit to Montpelier at Thanksgiving, when it was brand-spankin’-new). The display had started with the store’s windows wrapped in white paper decorated with a woodsy winter scene, into which numbered "windows" had been cut such that one could be "opened" on each successive day in December. Behind each window sat a different book or gift item the store was recommending.

I stupidly didn’t take any photos of the windows themselves during our Thanksgiving visit, but as luck would have it you can see them in this day-after-Thanksgiving photo of me with Gareth and my parents, taken in front of Bear Pond. See the numbers behind us? Those are the numbered windows in the display that would be opened in December to reveal different gift suggestions.

Here’s how one section of those same windows looked the day after Christmas, by which time all of those little numbered panes had been opened.

I love the idea that the window looked different every day and can just imagine local kids (and adults!) stopping by just to see what treasure(s) had been revealed since their last visit.

Here are some of the children’s books and gifts that were featured in the display.

I was especially happy to see That Book Woman included in the window, as it’s one of my favorite picture books of the year.

Now a quiz to see if you’ve been paying careful attention to the images in this post: On what day in December was That Book Woman "revealed" to the Montpelier public?

Answer: December 11th. If you scroll back up to the photo of my family in front of the store, you’ll see the the patterned hemline of a woman’s skirt next to Gareth’s elbow, with a number 11 just above it, to the right. That same pattern appears at the bottom of the photo featuring That Book Woman above, so you’ve now seen that numbered "window" both open and closed.

Have you seen any really clever, not-that-hard-to-execute window displays that you would recommend we retailers try? If so, please describe them. We’re always looking for new ideas, and darn if they aren’t sometimes in short supply!

I’m Dreaming of a Black Christmas


Alison Morris - December 22, 2008

4 Replies

As in "in the black." As in "profitable." This is the hope of all retailers every year of course, but a lot of us are crossing even more fingers and toes than usual. And for those of us in the Boston area (and many other parts of the country, I hear), this past weekend was a serious optimism damper. It was the WEEKEND BEFORE CHRISTMAS, which should have spelled retail manna, but three consecutive days of terrible winter weather saw relatively few area cash registers ringing.

All of this is making me think for the umpteenth time of the holiday message sent out this year by Roy Blount Jr., president of the Authors Guild, which has been getting a lot of circulation in bookselling circles. In case you haven’t seen it or need reminding of Roy’s increasingly-important message, I’m reprinting it here for you with an exhortation to PLEASE help us hard-working booksellers make this holiday season (and this year) a black one — especially those of us who’ve just spent three days in the white.

Holiday Message from Roy Blount Jr.:
Buy Books From Your Local Bookstore, Now

December 11, 2008. I’ve been talking to booksellers lately who report that times are hard. And local booksellers aren’t known for vast reserves of capital, so a serious dip in sales can be devastating. Booksellers don’t lose enough money, however, to receive congressional attention. A government bailout isn’t in the cards.

We don’t want bookstores to die. Authors need them, and so do neighborhoods. So let’s mount a book-buying splurge. Get your friends together, go to your local bookstore and have a book-buying party. Buy the rest of your Christmas presents, but that’s just for starters. Clear out the mysteries, wrap up the histories, beam up the science fiction! Round up the westerns, go crazy for self-help, say yes to the university press books! Get a load of those coffee-table books, fatten up on slim volumes of verse, and take a chance on romance!

There will be birthdays in the next twelve months; books keep well; they’re easy to wrap: buy those books now. Buy replacements for any books looking raggedy on your shelves. Stockpile children’s books as gifts for friends who look like they may eventually give birth. Hold off on the flat-screen TV and the GPS (they’ll be cheaper after Christmas) and buy many, many books. Then tell the grateful booksellers, who by this time will be hanging onto your legs begging you to stay and live with their cat in the stockroom: "Got to move on, folks. Got some books to write now. You see…we’re the Authors Guild."

Enjoy the holidays.

Roy Blount Jr.
President, Authors Guild 

Shrinky Dinks Advance Science, Adorn Trees


Alison Morris - December 18, 2008

7 Replies

What do stem cell research and your holiday decorations have in common? Both could be improved with the help of a "retro" craft supply called Shrinky Dinks. I’ll leave it to Wired Science to explain the medical advances made possible by this magical plastic toy while I explain here how you can make great little ornaments or wreath decorations (or pins or necklaces or earrings or… almost anything) sporting your favorite images from books.

A few years ago when I was living alone in New Hampshire and the holidays were on the horizon, I bought myself a tiny Christmas tree then lamented the fact that I didn’t yet own any ornaments to hang on it. My solution: trace some of my favorite picture book characters onto magical shrinkable plastic, cut the characters out, punch a hole in the top of each one, stick them in the oven, and watch them curl up and harden into the perfect ornaments for my little reading-themed tree. 

Below are some examples of my Shrinky Dinks handiwork. I punched holes in the first batch so that I could turn them into ornaments. The second batch I left hole-less so that I could glue pin backs to them and make them into picturebook brooches. 

Books used for batch one (clockwise, l. to r.): Bill and Pete by Tomie dePaola; The Beautiful Butterfly by Judy Sierra, illustrated by Victoria Chess; Fishing in the Air by Sharon Creech, illustrated by Chris Raschka; The Genie in the Jar by bell hooks, illustrated by Chris Raschka; and Bootsie Barker Bites by Barbara Bottner, illustrated by Peggy Rathmann.

Books used for batch two (clockwise, l. to r.): Going Home by Eve Bunting, illustrated by David Diaz; Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White, illustrated by Garth Williams; Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes; and Hush! A Thai Lullaby by Minfong Ho.

My source for this project’s materials was originally non other than The Shrinky Dinks Book published by Klutz, which includes original designs you can trace plus the plastic onto which you do the tracing. If you plan on tracing images from books already in your home library, all you really need is the plastic + instructions (not the pages of Klutz-created designs). You can satisfy this need with the Klutz Shrinky Dinks "Extra Stuff" package or buy plastic in large quantities from the Shrinky Dinks web store.

If you’ve never had the pleasure of watching Shrinky Dinks perform their magical shrinking trick, you can watch the rather earnest Shrinky Dinks video that shows the stuff in action. (And, no, I am not related to Betty Morris, the inventor of Shrinky Dinks… At least, not that I’m aware.)

You don’t have to be a decent artist to do this project. Seriously! You just have to be able to trace things. If you are an artist though, go ahead and draw your own design. In either case, choose or create an image that will be the right size for your finished project once it’s shrunk down to one-third of its size. In other words, think big. If you’re tracing, note that the best images to use are ones that have a strong line and rather distinct areas of color. Images in which shades blend quite a bit are harder to trace, in general.

Another tip for choosing images: be aware that any spaces you don’t color will wind up being frosted "see through" spaces, which may not work as well if you’re making, say, a pin that will lay against a dark shirt color, against which it may look odd or the imperfections of your drawing will be more visible. Here’s my Fishing in the Air Shrinky Dink as a light-colored/lots of clear space example.

Also be aware that you can make slight variations to your traced images in order to keep them the size you need or make them a little more suited to their final uses. I changed the colors of Bootsie Barker’s dress below to make it look more Christmasy. In the Chrysanthemum Shrinky Dink above, I put a bouquet in her hand because the actual chrysanthemum on the book’s cover was too tall for my pin purposes.

Below are two examples of how my Shrinky Dink compares to the original drawing, with a quarter to give you a sense of scale!

 

Once you’ve chosen an image to trace, follow these simple steps to make your Shrinky Dink!

1. Take a sheet of clear Shrinky Dinks plastic and lay it rough side up on the image that you want to trace. Use tiny bits of tape to lightly adhere the sheet of plastic to the page so that you don’t accidentally move it around while you’re tracing.

2. Trace the image onto the plastic. You can use any number of different art materials to do this, but my personal favorite is colored pencils, which is what I used to create all the examples you see here.

3. Cut out your image or cut around your image in the shape you’d like the finished piece to be. If you’re going to be putting your Shrinky Dink on an ornament hook or threading anything through it, use a traditional hole punch to punch a hole in the ornament. (The hole will of course shrink down to about 1/3 its original size too, making it nice and small relative to your overall design, unless your design is tiny.)

4. See the baking how-to on the PDF of instructions from the Shrinky Dinks site. (The gist: lay your shape on tin foil or brown paper atop a cookie sheet, bake at 325 degrees for 1 to 3 minutes. But, really, read their instructions sheet for key details and helpful suggestions.) Note that watching your plastic curl is one of the most entertaining parts of this process, so you ideally want to bake your Shrinky Dinks in an oven or toaster oven with a window. Do this craft with kids and they will be AMAZED!

5. L
et
your Shrinky Dinks cool, then turn them into ornaments or jewelry. Voilà!

One very important note about these entertaining little craft projects. If you create ornaments or jewelry or ANY objects like this by tracing the illustrations from copyright-protected books, you CANNOT sell those objects. If you do you’ll be violating copyright law. Make them for yourself and you’re fine. Start your own Etsy store featuring such ornaments and jewelry and you’re NOT.

If you give this project a try, let me know how it goes! (Send a message to Shelftalker AT Gmail DOT com.) I hope the results make you feel as happy and satisfied as the "angel" on my own little tree:

Grandpa Potter


Alison Morris - December 17, 2008

3 Replies

My favorite holiday tradition in the Boston area is the annual screening of Frank Capra’s brilliant It’s a Wonderful Life at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge. I go every year that I can, usually accompanied by friends Lisa DiSarro (associate marketing director at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) and Leo Landry (author/illustrator/bookseller/all-around-nice-guy), and IDEALLY by someone who’s never seen the film before, so that the three of us can then have the joy of being the ones to introduce them to it.

In recent years, though, the name "Potter" which I once associated first and foremost with the evil miser of Capra’s creation, is now best-known as the surname of one world-famous boy wizard, prompting me to wonder…

What DO we know about Harry’s grandfather anyway? Tell me THIS wouldn’t make for one VERY interesting family tree:

Harry Potter (son)

James Potter (father)

Henry F. Potter (grandfather)

In this photo Old Man Potter is saying "Happy New Year to you — in Azkaban!"

Quick, fan fiction writers, get to work!

(Note: If you live in the Boston area and the parodied quote by Old Man Potter above makes no sense to you, then you should be at the Brattle on Saturday, December 20th at 11 AM!)