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

This is a book for children. I would have adored it 35 years ago. And while I did enjoy parts of it here and there, mostly it was nostalgia for how I would have practiced some of these silly things in my bedroom as a kid. A fun diversion for an afternoon.

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.

#98, 2004

I bought this book at the local planetarium, to assist me in putting up glow-star constellations in my son's bedroom. In the back of the book are tear-out cards with holes punched in them in the shapes of constellations, so all you have to do is shine a filtered flashlight behind them, and then put the stars on the ceiling where the light shines through. Since I've been having a bit of difficulty getting the constellations the way I want them on my own, I thought this book would be show more helpful. Plus, it comes with glow stars, including some medium-sized ones that I needed, but hadn't been able to find anywhere else. So, I bought the book for purely practical purposes, but was pleased to discover that it's filled with lots of cool information about astronomy, as well, all written in a humorous tone for young people. It touches on physics, and the origins of the universe, and it has not only the stories behind the seven western constellations that are featured on the punch cards in the back, but it also tells some of the stories that people in other cultures told about those same stars. show less