Make Your Own Book

We’re talking about Shakespeare this week, and one of the difficulties of introducing him to kids is finding books that aren’t too dark or perverse in the hands of professional illustrators.  I’ve sifted through a lot of the books for you and found a few jewels.  But another approach would be to make your own!

(I hope it’s also a good time for this post since you may be looking for one last summer craft to do with your kids…or even ideas for a summer scrapbook!  I’ll focus on Shakespeare today, but keep in mind these resources work for any kind of book that strikes your fancy.)

Choose a Play (or Make Up Your Own)

For younger kids, choose the Shakespeare play you think they’d like.  Find a a short summary of the play–this could be a picture book like The Tempest retold by Bruce Coville, or you could print out one of the plot overviews at sparknotes.com/shakespeare/.  Take a few minutes to read the story together and talk it over.

Storyboard It

When I worked on picture books as an editor, I would draw small boxes like this to represent each page spread.  In years past, a standard picture book would 32 pages (or 16 spreads), but do however many you like. Then I’d sketch a rough idea for illustrations, putting a summary of the action under each box.  This will help you pace the story and give some thought as to how it will flow.  A good rule of thumb for organizing it is to follow a basic story outline: 1) introduce the characters, 2) show the conflict, 3) tell how the conflict comes to a climax, and 4) finally, show how it all resolves.

Older kids might like produce a graphic novel (get inspiration from like King Lear by Gareth Hinds).  Or they could write their own adaptation of Shakespeare’s plays, sans illustrations, to be performed in their backyard!  If they need help organizing the story, instead of storyboarding with these boxes, another seasoned writers’ tip is to use index cards.  Write each scene on a card with a short description, and then lay all the cards on the floor in order.  Hopefully you’ll begin to see the flow of the story, and you can find out where you may have moved too fast or too slowly in the narrative.  With a Shakespeare play, you may want to use this trick to help you rearrange or simplify the timeline.

Draw It, Bind It, Love It

Once you’ve got a story plotted out, you can go old-school, get out the crayons and start drawing.  Staple paper together to make your own book.  Or purchase a blank book: I recently picked up a couple blank-page books at my local parent-teacher store for a few dollars.  If you want to get fancy, you could pick up a nifty scrapbook at your local craft store.

Of course, high tech doesn’t have to be expensive these days.  There are plenty of online book printers/ self-publishers that would be all too happy to produce a professional copy of your child’s book–and some even offer a book sellers’ marketplace where your kids can sell copies of their masterpiece to family and friends. Here are  few internet options:

• Lulu.com–A great site for making books.  It’s been around a while and probably has one of the best marketplaces.  Plus you get the first copy of your book free!
• Blurb.com–This is a site dedicated to helping you make books.  Highly recommend poking around their bookstore of self-published books to get ideas.  Here is a link to their children’s section.  If you click on a book, you’ll be taken to the page where you can often preview a book before you purchase it.  (Prices start at $2.75)
• Tikatok.com–Similar site to the one above, but aimed at children.
• Kodak.com–Technically, you don’t have to have a dedicated book-making site to help.  Kodak.com has lots of options for creating your own books, and instead of uploading a photo, you can upload scans of your book pages.  This is true for many other photo book retailers like Target, etc.

If you’d like more help making your own books, see Esther Smith’s How to Make Books: Fold, Cut, and Stitch Your Way to a One-of-a Kind Book (here’s a video based on it you can watch right now) or Magic Books and Paper Toys: Flip Books, Easy Pop-Ups, & Other Paper Playthings to Delight.

And check back later in the week for more ideas to get your kids excited about Shakespeare!  For more summer reading or projects, check out Janie’s Hitting the Road, Emily’s 10 Vacation Audiobooks for the Whole Family, or check out how one kids’ book can help you throw a quick Tennis camp before summer ends.

Any other suggestions for good book-related crafts?  Thoughts on which Shakespeare tale would be best for kids?  I’m thinking Macbeth might be kinda lower on the list…. COMMENTS