I’m also pleased to announce that Bookmaking Bonanza 2012 will take place in the beautiful Community Room of the Redwood Shores Public Library, a location that’s convenient to San Francisco, Marin, the Peninsula, the East Bay and the South Bay alike. Here are some details, followed by class descriptions:

DATES: Monday July 23rd–Thursday July 26th

TIME: 1–4 p.m. daily, with a short snack break.

PLACE: Redwood Shores Public Library, 399 Marine Parkway, Redwood City, CA

PARKING: No problem! And it’s free.

DIRECTIONS: Click here for a map.

COST: $25 per class, payable by credit card or PayPal via online registration.

FOOD: You bring a snack, we’ll provide coffee. (If you like, bring lunch to eat on the library picnic tables before class!)

WHAT ELSE SHOULD I BRING?: All materials and tools will be supplied, but a notebook and pen would be handy.

SHARE THE NEWS: Download a flyer by clicking here.

QUESTIONS?: Click here to send me an email.

WHO’S INVITED?: Adults working with kids in Grades 1–8, including teachers, librarians, parents, principals, after-school organizers, camp counselors, arts-educators and others.

Monday July 23rd
Bookmaking With Colored Tyvek
Sponge-coloring Tyvek—the stuff used in overnight envelopes—is a no-mess kind of paper decoration and produces gorgeous book covers. Participants will turn their painted Tyvek into envelopes and tuck an accordion-folded book inside; make origami-like Lotus Books; and learn the easy-to-weave Criss-Cross Binding, among other structures. Extra colored sheets can be used in Wednesday’s Sewing workshop.

Tuesday July 24th
Simple Folds, Infinite Variety
The versatility of a single sheet of paper is awe-inspiring. Participants will make lift-the-flap books, poetry books, three-dimensional shaped books, Guess Who? books, Me on the Map pop-up books, and more. Great for social studies, natural science
(including units on animals, habitats, and endangered species), creative writing, even math!

Wednesday July 25th
Dazzling, Easy-to-Sew Books
Sewing a book is easier than you think—and it’s a lot faster than sharing a stapler! This session introduces a simple sewing pattern for binding basic pamphlets, two-signature booklets, a dos-á-dos book and a French-Door Book with pages that open and close like doors, revealing or concealing artwork, poetry, photos, prose … anything kids can put on paper. Dovetails with Writers Workshop curriculum.

Thursday July 26th
The Fiendish Flexagon
This workshop features a fascinating structure called a flexagon, so call-
ed because it flexes and unfolds to reveal four faces. Great for poetry, integrating art and text and more. Participants will make back-to-school calendars, and more.

Magpie Musing sent this to me, and I’m very grateful. (Is that comma superfluous?)

I’m forever correcting Error No. 2, but the grammatical error that bedevils me most as an editor is not on this list: subject-verb agreement.

This eye-catching sculpture is part of a new exhibition opening on May 10 called Plantosaurus Rex. It features

“a prehistoric paradise of plants from the time of the dinosaurs when giant ferns, spiky horsetails, and primitive cycads grew in lush abundance and fed many of the monstrous reptiles that roamed the earth millions of years ago.

“Under a canopy of primordial conifers, visitors encounter model dinosaurs like the armored Stegosaurus foraging for the vegetation they loved best while learning about the symbiotic relationship between ancient flora and fauna. But beware—the predators have come to Golden Gate Park too! A giant T. rex has smashed through the roof of the Conservatory to look for potential snacks!”

If you still have some field-trip money left, this would be my choice! But you could also wait until fall to visit, since the exhibition runs through October 21st.

The Conservatory has posted an abundance of info on this web page and it has guide booklets and docents on hand at the exhibition itself.

Credit for the photo goes to The Richmond District Blog, with my thanks!

It’s a series of three-hour workshops, one per day, presenting dozens of projects that combine handcraft, literacy and artistic expression. These book-arts classes are open to parents, teachers, librarians, principals, arts educators and other adults who work with students. They’re inexpensive, only $25 per session. And while they focus mainly on Grades 1–5, many of the projects they feature can be readily adapted for middle- and high-school students. Here’s the line-up in brief:

Monday July 23rd
Bookmaking With Colored Tyvek

Tuesday July 24th
Simple Folds, Infinite Variety

Wednesday July 25th
Dazzling, Easy-to-Sew Books

Thursday July 26th
The Fiendish Flexagon

Click here to read my introductory post about these workshops, or download this PDF flyer. Please keep checking this blog for details about venue, start times and registration. And feel free to email me with any questions.

This was a totally counterproductive thing for me to be doing in the aftermath of a move, when I had finally unpacked and reshelved my books! But it was also totally addictive—so much so that I did it four times. My first effort reads like a litany, if you imagine a colon after the topmost title.

Before I show you my other goofy efforts, let me give credit where it is due. I first came across this notion years ago when I somehow discovered Nina Katchadourian’s Sorted Books project. And I was reminded of her work recently by a series of posts starting last week over at Brain Pickings. Here’s blogger Maria Popova’s first post; here’s the second installment, and here’s the third. She also wrote an excellent piece about Katchadourian’s work two years ago.

While choosing my next book stack, I was thinking of my years as a young adult in New York City:

This stack simply shows how few titles I own that start with gerunds!

And this stack is a whodunit challenge, with the books below the Sue Grafton novel identifying the perpetrator. (It’ll make more sense if you add “with” before the third title and “and” before the last.)

I’m sure fun-loving, creative teachers could cook up all kinds of interesting book-spine challenges for students, as well as letting them follow their own muse.

Bookmaking Bonanza 2012 runs from Monday July 23rd through Thursday July 26th, with a three-hour workshop each day. Take any or all of these sessions and you’ll have instantly usable projects, easy-to-follow instructions, and convincing evidence that making books with students is a fun and effective way of nurturing literacy and artistic expression across all areas of the curriculum.

Open to teachers, librarians, principals, arts educators and parents, these affordable classes—just $25 each—focus mainly on Grades 1–5. But in the hands of a creative teacher, many of the projects can be readily adapted for middle- and high-school students.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The venue and start times for Bookmaking Bonanza 2012 are still being finalized. But the location will be great—I promise!—and within easy reach whether you’re coming from San Francisco, the Peninsula, the East Bay or Marin.

Please visit Bookmaking With Kids often for an update on the venue and details on start times. A registration form to download will also be coming soon, as will a series of posts with lots of photos and details on each workshop.

Until then, feel free to email me with any questions. (I’m happy to share preliminary info on an individual basis about the workshop location so you can make your professsional-development plans for the summer, so please do get in touch by email.)

Here’s the class line-up, again with the three-hour time slot and exact location to be announced soon:

Monday July 23rd
Bookmaking With Colored Tyvek
Sponge-coloring Tyvek—the stuff used in overnight envelopes—is a no-mess kind of paper decoration and produces gorgeous book covers. Participants will turn their painted Tyvek into envelopes and tuck an accordion-folded book inside; make origami-like Lotus Books; and learn the easy-to-weave Criss-Cross Binding, among other structures. Extra colored sheets can be used in Wednesday’s Sewing workshop.

Tuesday July 24th
Simple Folds, Infinite Variety
The versatility of a single sheet of paper is awe-inspiring. Participants will make lift-the-flap books, poetry books, three-dimensional shaped books, Guess Who? books, Me on the Map pop-up books, and more. Great for social studies, natural science (including units on California animals, biomes, and endangered species), creative writing, even math!

Wednesday July 25th
Dazzling, Easy-to-Sew Books
Sewing a book is easier than you think—and it’s a lot faster than sharing a stapler! This session introduces a simple sewing pattern for binding basic pamphlets, two-signature booklets, a dos-á-dos book and a French-Door Book with pages that open and close like doors, revealing or concealing artwork, poetry, photos, prose … anything kids can put on paper. Dovetails with Writers Workshop curriculum.

Thursday July 26th
The Fiendish Flexagon
This workshop features a fascinating structure called a flexagon, so named because it flexes and unfolds to reveal four faces. Great for poetry, for displaying paired pictures and text and more. Participants will make back-to-school calendars, among other models.