Tag Archives: character

What’s In YOUR Wallet?

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what's in your wallet

Can you guess the character who owns this wallet? That was the challenge at Cotsen Critix, our literary society for kids ages 9-12! First, we gave each kid an empty wallet. Then we invited them to construct a literary character’s wallet by including notes, photos, small objects, clever little clues, etc. The one thing they COULDN’T include? The name of the character!

The wallet activity is directly related to this cool hands-on historical endeavor at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, and also similar to the character books activity I blogged about in 2015. The wallet activity, however, feels more personal then the book activity…you can really imagine your character carrying the wallet in their hand, pocket, or bag.

The wallet activity is less expensive as well, as small wallets can typically be found at the Dollar Store, or purchased for a couple bucks on Amazon. The kids brought their completed wallets to one of our sessions, and we had a great time trying to figure out the characters…

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And the wallet that started this post? The key, the comb, the archeology pamphlet, the caiman, the Incan ruins, and the Theodore Roosevelt Middle School identification card all point to that most intrepid adventurer, Addison Cooke! We read Addison Cooke and the Treasure of the Incas at our To Be Continued story time (and braved a seriously booby-trapped treasure vault as well!). It’s a fantastic, and highly recommended, read!

Pop’s Top 10: Artistic Letters

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Yes, there is a National Letter Writing Day, and it is today! Katie and I decided to celebrate with a very broad, very liberal take on what it means to put letters into the world. There’s a bonus one at the end of the post. We couldn’t resist.

#10 ICE TOPOGRAPHY BY NICOLE DEXTRAS
From My Modern Met

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#9 BALTIMORE BUS STRUCTURE BY “MMMM…” COLLECTIVE
From Inhabitat

mmmm-bus-sculpture11

#8 ARMENIAN ALPHABET MONUMENT BY J. TOROSYAN
From Atlas Obscura

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#7 PERIODIC TABLE, UNIVERSITY OF MURCIA, SPAIN
From Chemistry World

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#6 FLOATING SENTENCES, TREVISO, ITALY
From Spudart

Guildor-Writing-On-Water

#5 TYPOGRAPHY COSTUME CONTEST
From Parsons School of Design

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#4 THE ALPHABET CHAIR BY SARAH PETERS
From Sarah Peters Sculpture

alphabet_chair_web

#3 HANDMADE STAPLES FONT BY RAFAEL FAGULHA
From Bēhance

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#2 “LOOK CLOSER” INSTALLATION BY CHARACTER
From boredpanda

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#1 OPTICAL ILLUSION CALLIGRAPHY BY RYLSEE
From deMilked

letters-optical-illusions-calligraphy-rylsee-16

BONUS! AMERICA’S MOST FAMOUS LETTERS…
From Hollywood Sign

If you’re interested in doing a bit of letter art in your own home, library, or classroom, may we humbly suggest the letter art project we blogged about here? See also our topiary letters, letter fishing, magic floating letters, our favorite fuzzy crinkle letters, custom neon letters, or the result of inflating 130 giant alphabet balloons and stuffing them in the entryway of your library.

Please, sir, I want some more…

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dr dana oliver twist

Countless articles, numerous treatises, and dozens of dissertations have been written on the role food plays in children’s literature. And we have certainly done more then a few posts on it (see: top secret fooj, gingerbread house contest, and Harry Potter recipe testing).

With glorious fictitious edibles in mind, I developed a quick activity for Cotsen Critix, our children’s literary society for 9-12 year olds. The task was simple: match the food to the literary character. However, the list ranged from easy to challenging, thanks to the invaluable assistance of librarians on the ALSC listserv. They came up with tons of clever matches.

Below is the game, and here is the pdf version (and NO answer key! Mwah hah hah!):

characters and foods game

If you’re wondering where on earth we found a Victorian-esque dining hall for the blog photo, the answer is Proctor Hall. It’s the dining room for Princeton University’s Graduate College. It’s absolutely gorgeous, with wood paneling, oil portraits, and a massive stained glass window.

proctor hall princeton university graduate collegeI couldn’t resist busting out a little Oliver! at the end of the shoot. If you look closely, you can see that I truly got into character by smearing mud all over my London orphan face.

Disclaimer: I have NO vocal training, and am famous for messing up song lyrics.

Many thanks to Marybeth Shippole for graciously allowing us to visit Proctor Hall, and to all the ALSC librarians for their invaluable contributions to the game!