Books are cool and you should make them. Thinking through how a book is engineered, and then making and reading one can engage you (and your kids) on a lot of different levels. Since I couldn’t be in the shop because of the virus-that-shall-not-be-named, I thought I would do some design work so that you could get your hands busy with some literature.
I’ve designed a few easy to assemble books that are perfect for kids and grownups to do together. These belong to our experimental ABLE Books series of user-assembled literature.
(I’ve picked out books that will appeal to a couple different age groups. Not every book will be just right for every kid. Use your best judgment, parents.)
You’ll need:
- a printer (preferably one that can print double sided).
- a long stapler or
- These instructions for sewing your book: https://www.loc.gov/preservation/resources/educational/bookarts/pamphlet.pdf
- If you do go the sewing route, you’ll need needle, thread, and an awl for punching holes
- scissors or a paper cutter
- finally, you’ll need a book to stitch
The ABLE Books Children’s Series
Each of these books is a PDF that I laid out as a “quarto” that can be printed out onto standard letter sized paper. Once you fold it up, you will have a 16 page book. Each book comes with instructions, a cover, and a Wolverine Press mini poster with our Wolverine logo designed by Jason Polan.
Quartos are neat! Printers always try to design things so that everything is made from a single sheet. Back in the old days, a printer would have a single press that had one set size, and he would buy paper from a local mill, and it was usually a single set size. So books were designed according to the number of pages that the printer could fit on that sheet using his press.
A FOLIO book was just folded in half. Two pages on each side of the sheet.
A QUARTO book was folded in quarters, with four pages on each side of the sheet.
An OCTAVO was folded in eighthes, with eight pages on each side.
And so on.
Quartos are my favorite because when you lay them out on a standard letter-sized sheet, you can get the feel of an old print shop, you can have a little bit of the complexity of folding up a book, and you end up with a pleasingly hand-sized (and kid sized!) little book.
So, please download these books and make a few. You can experiment by making your own covers, printing on different paper stocks, and modifying your book as you see fit. Instagram your results with the hashtag #wolverinepress!
I want to see what you create!
Check back here. I will be adding more books as I get the chance.
If you want the InDesign file I created to layout these books, email me at fgs@umich.edu and I will send it to you, and I will help you make it work if you need help. This is a two-sheet quarto, and I am working on a three-sheet quarto that can hold longer stories. Also, email me if you have suggestions, or just to chat about books! We’re all stuck in our houses!
-Fritz Swanson, Director, Wolverine Press
