Bookmaking With Kids

As the school year’s final book-arts project in my friend Debra’s classroom, we’re making phone books for the kids to fill in and use to stay in touch with classmates over the summer. They’re also roomy enough for kids to collect autographs or even glue in photos.

If you’d like to make these with your class, send me an email by May 27th. I’ll choose a winner at random and mail the supplies you’ll need.

The structure is a Staggered-Page Book, a name that tells you the crucial thing (Step 2, below) you need to know about making it.

1. Take five sheets of colored paper, each a different color. Jog them into a neat, horizontal stack (landscape orientation) and lay them on the desk.
2. Move the top four sheets to the left, exposing about a half-inch to three-quarters of an inch of the bottom sheet. Repeat until each sheet is offset from the one below it by about a half-inch to three-quarters of an inch.



3. Paper-clip the sheets in their staggered position.
4. Fold the pages in half as a group. Add a folded cover. (The one pictured here is 8.5 x 11 inches.)



5. Secure the cover and pages with your choice of binding. Consider sewing a pamphlet stitch, using a long-reach stapler or, as shown here, nipping partially circles with a two-hole punch and then doing a rubber band binding.

The Staggered-Page Book has many, many uses other than phone books. I hope this final photo will spark some ideas.