Write On!
Written By Alicia Potter
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5 DIY Book Tips
Loreen Leedy, author and illustrator of Look at My Book ($18, Holiday House) — a kids' guide to bookÂmaking — suggests five DIY ideas:
- Basic: Fold a few sheets of paper like a greeting card. Staple down the crease. Extra credit: Trim the book so that it's long and narrow (say, for a story about trees or giants) or cut it down into a palm-size read.
- Bound: Follow the directions above, but instead of stapling, punch two holes along the folded edge. Thread a bright ribbon through each hole and tie into a bow.
- Accordion: No binding necessary: Fold a legal-size piece of paper into four panels as if you were making a fan. Each panel becomes a "page."
- Scroll: Choose a wrapping paper with a blank underside. Cut to fit around a cardboard paper-towel tube and glue one edge of the paper to the tube (printed side facing down). Write and draw on the blank side, or tape a series of drawings to it. When finished, roll the paper around the tube and tie closed with yarn or ribbon.
- Shape: Stack several sheets of paper and cut into a simple shape (heart, cloud, dog bone). Staple or bind the left edge.
For kids who dream of seeing their names in print, try tikatok.com. Upload artwork and text into a customizable layout, and a professionally printed book will be mailed to you. Books start at around $20.
For more sophisticated design tools and more options (like dust jackets), use blurb.com. Books start at around $13.
Want to keep the computer out of it? With this kit, your kid writes and illustrates his book on provided pages. Mail them in and get a hardcover book. (Send Away Storybook Publisher, Discovery Kids, $20, shop.discovery.com)
The child authors of the books featured here used Newbury albums by Kolo. Pages can easily be added or removed. ($35, kolo.com)
