Gifts! Wow--just wow!

The next stop on my Napa County Reads SHIFTY tour was Silverado Middle School. The students were great again. We were in a library here--and take a look at the student work I discovered on the library bulletin boards. Fun, fun, fun!! I saw SHIFTY-themed bookmarks and a great art and literacy activity where students made "gifts" for the characters in my book. What a gift to the author to see this--so inspiring. The students really showed a lot of creative thought toward the characters and the story by the gifts they chose to give.

It's was a colorful visual delight.
Wow, just wow!
Take a look at the gifts the students gave to Soli/Shifty, Sissy and Martha. Baby Chance and Lester the Cat got gifts, too. Even one of the book's antagonists, Sheila-not-Shelly, got a gift (some "chill pills," a happy stamp and candy to sweeten her life and make her chill out a bit!) Ha! That made me smile!
















And the gift to the author? Meeting all the students who were reading SHIFTY--and the whole Napa Reads experience! Thanks Napa County students, teachers, arts and educational community. If you were the teacher(s) who created this project, please re-introduce yourself to me. Thanks so much. Please thank your students, too. Posting these pics made me happy all over again.

Here's the cool video about Napa County Reads.
Be sure to watch to the end to see the children's chorus!

Napa County Reads 2010

To read more about my experiences with Napa County Reads, please look here, here, and here.

Unique Books & Gifts for Your Hard-to-Please Literary Friends

Do you have any challenging book-loving folks on your holiday gift list? Have they already read every book imaginable so you just don't know what to get them? I recently went to the 2008 Book Arts Jam sponsored by the Bay Area Book Artists (BABA) and Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, CA where I saw lots of cool stuff.

This truck and camper in the Foothill College parking lot foreshadowed that this would be a fun event.

I don't usually peek inside parked vehicles but I couldn't resist. Inside the camper was a cute little kitchen, a space to sleep and ladybug pillows!

Okay, out of the parking lot and on to the Book Arts Jam...

There were many artists displaying their wares. Here are a few of my favorites.
How about a journal made out of an old recycled lp? Here's a spiral "Personal Record Book" by Jaki Ernst. Cool, right? I bet your literary friends don't have one of these!



Here's a lovely little book for wine-lovers. Yep, the front and back covers of this tiny accordion book are made from matching halves of a wine cork! The little circular band on the left (kind of like a cigar band) slides over the closed book to keep it all together. That's another cork book all closed up on the right.








Here is the artist, Suzanne Lydia Thomas, with her cork book, cool mini-book earrings and pins. I bought a nifty little pair of mini-book earrings she created using paper handmade and marbled by her mom & dad.


Suzanne makes all kinds of unique books. Take a look at another of Suzanne's books below. It's small and could fit discreetly in the palm of your hand or tucked into a purse.




This one is titled, Protection.



It's another beautifully designed accordion book. When you open it up it reveals 10 pockets, filled with...











...protection!

This book contains a quote on what "Papa says" about never leaving the house without protection. Surely, this is the perfect present for someone on your gift list. You can find more of Suzanne Lydia Thomas' unique books, earrings and pins here.
Great stuff--take a look!
Tell her Lynn at The Imaginary Blog sent you.

Check out the Bay Area Book Artists, the Book Arts Jam, the other exhibitors and various book artists here.

Forecast: Holidays approaching with increased chances of book buying.

And of course if you'd like to buy one of my books for someone on your holiday gift list, please visit your local bookseller or click on these Amazon links for Shifty, Cinder Rabbit, Buzz Bumble to the Rescue, or Mermaid Mary Margaret. Thanks!

Imaginary Readers, if you know of any other cool book artists, Book Art Festivals or places on and off the web to find unique one-of-a-kind books, please tell us via the comment function below.

For Kidlitosphere posts about gifts and reading check out November's Carnival.