Klutz Press

A simple arts and crafts book that shows kids how to hold their hands in different positions, trace them on paper, and turn the resulting outline into an animal with crayons and markers.

I was feeling a bit dismissive of the technique at first, but I followed instructions and quickly made a passable cat and a horse, so I got to give them credit. And I liked how sometimes the instructions included turning the traced image, something my linear mind might not have thought to do.

Some of the show more credited illustrators are also listed as models in the photographs, so it appears Klutz did have actual children create the pictures. That did set me to wondering why certain artists didn't make the cut for being models and what role nepotism played in the creation of this book. show less

A fun variety of competitive and solo games you can play with the provided pennies and the playing boards that are built directly into the book.

It's a bit silly and awkward at times, but fiddling around with this book should provide a momentary distraction from screen time.

With the government's discontinuation of minting pennies, might this be a collector's item down the road?

Very simple instructions for making cute animals out of pompoms of various sizes. Of course, the final products in the book's photographs are waaaaay better than your child will ever make once the glue starts flying.

Tricky Video collects some classic short film effects gags and teaches readers how to achieve the effects, complete with suggested storylines. Much of what's here can be viewed in YouTube, either as a result of this book or simply because they are fairly common, and Klutz even has some specially made links that show the effects in action. There's the faked fight scene, the tiny person in the palm of your hand gag, pixilated drag races, and, of course, talking fruit. Sound effects are show more covered, as are the finer points of camera placement and staging. It's a good place to start for an aspiring middle grade movie director. Even comes with it's own clapper, thought totally unnecessary in this day and age when sound is recorded with the video or added as an effect in the editing. Naturally, active young filmmakers will quickly master these scenes and come to create other, more complex gags and set-ups.

I realize that Klutz isn't the place, but this kind of book – with it's clear color photo instructions and online video links to show you what the final result looks like – could do with a couple solid follow-up guides. Like one on making tricky horror effects videos, and especially on writing good movie stories, whether comedy, horror or drama. It is too easy to just grab a camera and shoot gags and share them for a quick laugh. It's also too easy for budding filmmakers – and some professional ones as well – to stop at the image and learn nothing about crafting good stories.

That's the truly tricky part. show less