John Montroll

Some of the origami, specifically the human characters, is extremely complex (daunting to the experienced dilettante) and the directions do not give any indication of the size of paper necessary to keep things in scale (surely you can't fold Cinderella and her carriage from the same size of paper). However, there are a wide variety of pieces, enabling one to enact The Ugly Duckling, Goldilocks, The 3 Pigs, Humpty Dumpty, and Cinderella. The stories are given in the book in parallel with the show more instructions. Our 3 year old test subject enjoyed them, particularly 3 Pigs, even without origami. show less

This is one of the first origami books I owned, and it remains one of my favorites. The moth and grasshopper designs are wonderful, and every design is well thought-out. I remember that there was a certain step in Montroll's elephant that I couldn't figure out how to do when I was about eight or nine years old, and it infuriated me. I tried so many times to make that elephant, and I was always stymied by that step. I went back and did it again as an adult, and it didn't seem so unclear. show more These are more two-dimensional in nature, as opposed to the models in a book like Lang's Origami Zoo, but they are really realistically proportioned. This is probably one of my five favorite origami books. It's a good book for all levels, because there's some easier models to practice on before you move on to the more complex ones. There's nothing too complex in this book, even the insects are relatively straightforward. show less

I spent hundreds of hours of my childhood folding the fish, crustaceans and other sea life of this book. The shark exhibited on the front cover is a particular favorite of mine: it's one of those models that pretty much folds itself, perfectly balanced and eminently satisfying when completed. Some of these models are really hard. There is a deep sea angler fish with a full set of teeth that I made once on a family road trip, and I was pretty excited about that. Some of these models I've show more never made successfully. The crabs and the lobster at the end may be just a bit beyond me, although I always tell myself that I just haven't found the right paper. I think if you're willing and able to go beyond commercial origami paper, make your own paper or figure out exactly what paper works for you in the folding of complex origami models, you would be able to make any of these models. Lang and Montroll are two of the giants of the origami world, and this collaborative effort is well worth the purchase price. I just noticed that Robert J. Lang has a web site, http://www.langorigami.com/, where you can see pictures of a lot of these models, folded by their creator. Check it out! show less

A very enjoyable, fun origami book.

I've dabbled some in origami. I first became interested in when I was a kid and went to Epcot Center, and one of the ladies there taught me a few things. My dad was hooked as well, bought a couple of packs of origami paper and some books for me, and I did some folding for a few years and then forgot about it, until I met a gal from Japan in college, and got back into it thanks to her.

This is a great book to add to my library. The directions are clear, show more there is such great variety in skill levels here and the stars are all fascinating as well. I love all the little comments and notes throughout the book as well.

-
I received a copy of this book for free from netgalley in exchange for my honest review show less