Tag Archives: craft

Forms & Functions: The Splendors of Global Bookmaking

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Book enthusiasts near and far are cordially invited to a fantastic new exhibit!

“Forms and Function: The Splendors of Global Book Making,” is currently in the Ellen and Leonard Milberg Gallery in Firestone Library on Princeton University campus. Curated by Martin Heijdra, Director of PUL’s East Asian Library, the exhibit showcases the diversity and beauty of global book making, focusing on three major traditions of the book form: codex, East Asian, and pothī.

Awash in rich jewel tones and featuring a range of striking visuals, the exhibition features treasures from some of Princeton’s lesser-known collections, as well as items from its renowned collections of Western, Islamic, East Asian, and Mesoamerican manuscripts and printed books. There are also works by modern artists completed in the style of these global traditions. For gallery hours and directions to campus, please click here. The exhibit runs through December 7, 2025.

Can’t make the trip? No worries! There is a video tour here, a digital version of the exhibit here, and a downloadable guide here.

In celebration of the exhibit’s amazing holdings, we selected some of our more unusual book-crafting projects for further fun. Simply click the titles over the images to visit the project pages!

BOOK BOUQUET

MINI TREE LIBRARY

big tree library, little tree library

CLASSIC HOWLER

a real howler

FUN FLIP BOOK 

one two books 3

WINGED CODEX

flying books

PIRANESI PICNIC

A VERY LITERARY CANARY

tweet-reading-is-sweet

THE PERFECT PLACEHOLDER

Miniature paper book with personal information about a person named Katie written in it.MINI PET PORTRAYALS

Pretty Poisonous Posies

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It’s perhaps one of our most spectacular story times yet! Not only did kids get to craft the poison garden of their dreams, they got to visit a very mysterious garden in the library, and meet two very special guests!

We read Millie Fleur’s Poison Garden by Christy Mandlin (Orchard Books, 2024). When Millie Fleur La Fae and her mother move to Garden Glen, they quickly discover that the community appreciates sameness, right down to the prim matching hedges. It does not appreciate the unusual, odd, creepy, and (sometimes) poisonous plants in Millie’s garden. Ignoring the negativity, Millie invites her classmates to explore the wonderful weirdness of her garden. As more and more people show up for a tour, quirky new plants pop up around the neighborhood, making it a special place for all. Fun fact: the author was inspired to write the book after she learned of the famous Poison Garden in Alnwick Castle in England. Make sure to read all about it at the end of the book!

You’ll need:

  • 1 box (we used a 4″ x 4″ x 4″ craft box, but a small tissue box works too!)
  • 1 poison garden plant template, printed on 8.5″ x 11″ card stock
  • Drinking straws, pipe cleaners, and/or twisteez wire
  • Brown tissue paper (or paper towels)
  • Scissors and tape for construction
  • Markers for decorating

This is a very simple project with lots of room for creativity. Cut the top off of a small box, then color and cut the various plants from the template. Tape them to pipe cleaners, drinking straws, or Twisteez wire, then tuck everything inside the box. Add some brown tissue paper (or brown paper towels) as “soil” to anchor everything down. Done!

Kids were also free to improvise plants of their own! We offered toilet paper tubes, construction paper, muffin cups, fabric leaves, pom-poms, and packing peanuts as well. And lots and lots of eye stickers to ramp up the spooky factor and replicate the illustrations in the book.

We also had a special side projects for caregivers…we gave them envelope “seed packets” and a blank card, and they were free to write all the things that make their little one unique. Awwww!

Everyone was delighted with their little gardens, but we had a BIG surprise ready. An entire garden tour with Millie herself. Yes, that’s our summer intern Melanie Zhang in all her awesomeness!

We spent the week building a garden in an empty back office using leftover supplies from this Hobbit event, any and all foliage on our desks, twinkle lights, LED candles, and some weird cardboard monster blocks I picked up at a yard sale for $5.

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I did say there were two special guests at the beginning of the post. Melanie was one guest, and her frog Harold was the second! In the book, Millie has a pet frog, so Melanie brought in her special buddy for kids to find in the garden. She knitted him that handsome scarf as well. Look closely and you can see him in various photos in the post!

We would like to thank Melanie (and Harold) for brainstorming, creating, crafting and guest starring at this story time. It was completely magical – and so are you Melanie!

The Weasels Are Poppin!

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Folks, it was a total story time PARTY! Recently, we had the honor of collaborating with the Princeton Public Library and jaZams to bring the tremendous Betsy Bird and the terrific Andrea Tsurumi to Princeton with their new book Pop! Goes the Nursery Rhyme.

We all know Betsy Bird – author, librarian, Fuse #8 blogger for School Library Journal. Betsy has served on Newbery, reviewed for Kirkus, and written for Horn Book. She interviewed me way back in 2015, and again in 2022. And folks, I can personally attest that Betsy Bird serves up a mean round of “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” for the young ones.

Joining Betsy was the extraordinarily talented Andrea Tsurumi. An author and illustrator, they hail from Philadelphia and have written and illustrated the picture books Accident!, Crab Cake, and I’m On It! as well as collaborated with a number of children’s book authors. I also learned that Andrea will personally draw any animal with a slice of pizza, which is how I scored this amazing serval illustration.

Pop! Goes the Nursery Rhyme (Union Square Kids, 2025) begins as a nursery rhyme book, but things goes quickly off the rails as a highly bombastic Weasel interrupts absolutely EVERY rhyme, much to the chagrin of the story’s narrator, a harried Secretary Bird. Kids get both the benefit of classic rhymes and the hilarious irreverence of the Weasel. It’s a wonderful and charming read-aloud, and Andrea’s jubilant and evocative illustrations build anticipation for every page turn. Our audience loved it!

Did I mention that Betsy Bird brought her own bird? Yes, she brought a custom Secretary Bird puppet who expertly mingled with kids after the story time.

Andrea also circulated the crowds with their sketch book, showing kids what original sketches look like, and answering questions.

My portion of the program was the craft project, which of course had to be an enthusiastic weasel popping out of a decorated box!

The craft was designed to serve large crowds with limited table space, so we offered a selection of stickers, a 3″ x 3″ x 2″ box, a pop word template and a weasel template printed on card stock. A poster board spring (exactly like the one Katie demonstrates here) attaches to the inside of the box with tape. Quick note: use 22″ strips of cardboard to create the appropriate length spring.

Kids were happy to grab markers and supplies and get to work on their boxes!

Families were also welcome to bring a little literacy love home, and acquire copies of the book for Betsy and Andrea to sign.That portion of the event was sponsored by jaZams, our independent, locally owned, and family run toy store. We love you jaZams!

I would like to thank everyone who made this event possible! To Betsy and Andrea for bringing such a wonderful book to our community. To Marissa Warren, Director of Youth Services at the Princeton Public Library for opening the doors of the Community Room for all to enjoy. And to Joanne Farrugia, owner of JaZams, for providing books for everyone to experience again and again!

From left to right: Joanne Farrugia, Marissa Warren, Andrea Tsurami, Betsy Bird, Dana Sheridan

Images courtesy of the Betsy Bird, Cotsen Children’s Library, and Princeton Public Library. Book cover image provided by Andrea Tsurumi.