I’ve had a couple of emails from people requesting more details on how we made the fortune tellers for Cara’s booky baby shower. Organising the games was a true team effort between my good friend Lisa and I. The fortune tellers were not hard to make, but did require a little bit of thought (and a girl’s night to brainstorm the fortunes), so hopefully these instructions will be helpful. We made two different fortune tellers so that a couple of games could take place simultaneously around the table.

1) First you need to construct an origami fortune teller – if you are anything like Lisa you can challenge your partner/husband to make one with knife-edge corners…  It’s best to try to make a fairly large one, so that you have plenty of room to write. So use a large sheet of paper or card.

How To Make A Cootie Catcher/Fortune Teller

2) On the outside of the folded fortune teller you need to think of 2-4 questions whose answers could be any of four colours.
Examples might be: What colour should this baby be dressed in? What colour wll the baby’s eyes be?
Write the questions on the outside edge and the four colours as answers in the middle of each section.

3) For the inside section, you need to think of eight questions whose answers could be a range of numbers – choose questions for which the answer could be a limited range of numbers (i.e. the answer could be any number between 2 and 10, or 10 and 20 – don’t go over 20 though otherwise your players will be counting forever…)
Examples might be:  How many weeks old will the baby be when he/she first smiles? How many times will mum be asked ‘Is she sleeping through yet?’ How many times will mum be stuck without a spare nappy/diaper?
Write the questions along the top edge and randomly write the possible answers in digits in the centre of each section. It’s best to have as many odd numbers as possible, as this increases the variety when you come to play the game. (You might want to write the numbers in pencil first and then test the game to check the combinations are working as well as possible.)

4) For underneath the flaps, you need to think of 16 ‘fortunes’ for the baby. We tried to include some funny fortunes as well as some sweet ones. They can be written randomly on each flap.
Examples might be: This baby will be a champion tap dancer. This baby will baffle the Supernanny.
Ones that work really well are personal ones that start with ‘This baby will inherit his/her mum’s (or dad’s) … ‘

5) TO PLAY
Person A reads out one of the questions from the outside of the folded fortune teller and shows (or reads out to) Person B the possible colour answers. According to the chosen colour, Person A spells out the colour letter by letter, moving the fortune teller to open alternate views of the inside.
Next Person A reads out one of the questions from the inside and shows (or reads out) the possible number answers. According to the answer chosen, Person A counts to that number, moving the fortune teller to open alternate views of the inside.
Person A then reads out a further question from the inside. (If it falls back to the same view, pick a different question.) This time, the chosen answer determines which flap to open, and which fortune to read out.

The fortune teller can be used multiple times by the same people given the variety of possible combinations. It also makes a nice keepsake for mum and bub.

We also played a game that involved folded cards which named a potential item for the pregnant mum’s hospital bag. The outside of the card had the name of an item, and inside was the reason why you would need this item. The person holding the card had to first guess what the item might be for, and then read out the ‘real’ answer inside. What made this game funny was that Lisa sourced the list of items and reasons why you need them from a real-life forum, and lots of the things suggested were quite bizarre. Ever thought of taking a brown paper bag, a colouring book and a green reusable shopping bag in your labour bag? And why?

As we found, it’s not easy to find ideas for tasteful and entertaining games that aren’t daggy and naff. We were greatly inspired by the impeccably classy Inchmark (here and here). If anyone knows of any other good ideas, please leave a note in the comments. I’m sure the people who have asked me for these instructions would love you for it as they organise imminent showers.

Robin Klein is indelibly linked with my memories of primary school years. The school ballot for Children’s Book Council Book of the Year Awards, waiting lists for books at our library, and swapping favourite books with my friends – all these aspects of my late primary school years feature Robin Klein’s books. 

Klein’s series of Penny Pollard books stand out as being some of my favourite books of primary school, starting with Penny Pollard’s Diary. It’s written in the irresistable style of a diary by 10-year-old Penny, who hates pink, loves horses and is definitely not the teacher’s pet. Penny meets the equally idiosyncratic Mrs Edith Bettany (‘Mrs B’) on a school excursion to an old people’s home, and this first book follows the development of their friendship. There are some fabulously funny passages as the two swap stories.

Mrs B told me she used to have a carpet snake for a pet when she was my age and lived in the bush. Wow! Next to a horse, a snake would be the best pet ever! Told Mrs Bettany about when I was in kindergarten and I wanted a pet snake and mum kept saying Santa might bring one. And that Christmas I found a stupid big patchwork stuffed snake under Christmas tree. Mrs Bettany agreed it must have been a terrible disappointment. I told her about trying to flush patchwork snake down loo only it wouldn’t fit. She said when she lived in the bush they kept a stick to kill real snakes with next to their loo because it was miles down backyard. Told her there weren’t miles any more, only kilometres.

Mrs B appreciates Penny’s taste for double-headed lime Interplanteary Missiles from the milkbar and in turn Penny learns about how different – and how similar – life was growing up in the 1920s. And unexpectedly, both gain much from their unusual friendship. The feelings of not always living up to expectations and of being a bit different to everyone else are concepts that most primary school kids can relate to, and I think it is this aspect that my friends and I all loved so much in Robin Klein’s writing.

The diary is made to look ‘real’ with sketch drawings, photos and hand-drawn maps – all annotated by Penny. The illustrations are actually by Ann James, who does an amazingly convincing job. The original design is an exercise book-sized production, and the cover design graffiti no doubt inspired my own secret diary cover which I started in Grade 5 (and which I surprisingly managed to find this evening… The big question is: where is the key?!).

For some reason, the Penny Pollard books went out of print for many years, and I remember when working in bookshops being asked for them many, many times. They were thankfully re-issued by Hachette Australia in 2004 – but unfortunately (in my opinion) the format was not retained and they are now regular sized mass market paperbacks. As I had only borrowed copies when I first read them, I felt very lucky when I found the first two books from the series at the Lake Daylesford Book Barn a few years ago. Just a couple more books that I will treasure…

Is this not the sweetest thing? Handmade by the very talented Fiona who writes the beautiful blog Hop Skip and Jump from Adelaide. I’m in love. She is currently out of stock unfortunately at the Hop, Skip and Jump store but there are other very lovely toys in stock.

Ned’s favorite bedtime story at the moment, and we have to read it every night, is the pop up edition of Lauren Child’s Beware of the Storybook Wolves. He calls the book ’Big Wolf’ beacuse the main character is being read Little Red Riding Hood however the story gets a little corrupted when Herb’s mum leaves the room and the Big Bad Wolf and the Back Cover Wolf escape the book.

Ned particularly loves it when Herb screeches ‘HELP‘ and always joins in reading that bit. The pop ups are lovely and just make for even more added amusement to Lauren Child’s already spectacular illustrations. The thing is that the book is just so funny also for mummy and daddy – and we do have to read it every night! I love a good fractured fairytale.

I wonder who had the job of being inside Grug?

My dear friend Cara is expecting a baby in the next few weeks, and this weekend a few of us had a get-together of booky people to wish her well. All the invited guests had worked with Cara in publishing, so we decided to conspire for gifts on a book theme.

The guests were asked to bring along a favourite childhood/children’s picture book for the new baby… And I got out my neglected sewing machine and made a library bag to carry them in.

I bought the owl fabric when I was in Japan, and the brown woodland print at Patchwork on Central Park. Both are a canvas/cotton blend – nice and sturdy to withstand some heavy books…

I found a polka dot in yellow cotton for the lining and added a little pocket – for her library card. I based the pattern on a few different ones I found on the net, including this one – which was great for teaching boxed corners.

We also invited everyone to write a letter to the baby…

And the book? Well THAT was the hardest thing of all – how do you choose just one favourite childhood book?! In the end I chose The Red Balloon – it combines my love of things French, a beautiful story, and my favourite colour! I know it will be a classic that lasts for this little baby’s childhood and beyond.

The afternoon was a great success – impeccable company, yummy food and lots of laughs – and held at a favourite cafe, Snow Pony (a place that proves you CAN be cool in the burbs of Melbourne…).

We organised a couple of tasteful games, including a customised origami fortune teller to ‘predict’ some of the baby’s fortune.

Lots of fun – to write, to make and to play with!

Last but not least, Cara and I had a bump-off photo! An addition to the We Heart Books crew – I am having a baby too, later this year.

With any luck, these two babies will be friends, and will swap favourite books for years to come, just like Cara and I have.

I’ve always loved the idea of authors who discover children’s writing after the birth of their own children. Before the birth of his son, Christopher,
A A Milne was a playwright of some 18 plays and author of three novels, including a murder mystery. But he is best known of course for his two Winnie-the-Pooh books. 

A A Milne’s first book for children was his book of poems, When We Were Young. Later, after the two Pooh books, he published a second book of poetry, Now We Are Six. I remember poems from both books, but I’m particularly fond of a volume of Now We Are Six, which belonged to my mum.

The book is a 1956 reprinting, and is well-worn and loved. It has pen and ink illustrations by E H Shephard, which have been hand-coloured – by littlies, probably my mum and/or her sisters…

I have many favourite poems in this book… I always related particularly to ‘Binker’ – partly because Bink was the nickname that my mum and dad called me when I was little. And also because it made having an imaginary friend seem acceptable and appealing.

Binker – what I call him – is a secret of my own,
And Binker is the reason why I never feel alone.
Playing in the nursery, sitting on the stair,
Whatever I am busy at, Binker will be there…

As an adult, I adore the E H Shephard illustrations in this book – the details capture childhood movements and faces so perfectly – and just look at Mum’s (or maybe Nanny’s) stunning outfit in the illo for Binker!

When my friend Carolyn got married, she asked me to do one of the readings for the ceremony, on behalf of me and a friend of ours, Nicci (who was living overseas at the time). We chose ‘Us Two’ from Now We Are Six. It will always be special to me for this association too.

Wherever I am, there’s always Pooh,
There’s always Pooh and Me.
Whatever I do, he wants to do,
“Where are you going to-day?” says Pooh:
“Well, that’s very odd ‘cos I was too.
Let’s go together,” says Pooh, says he.
“Let’s go together,” says Pooh… 

A A Milne apparently resented somewhat the overwhelming success of his children’s books (which was to the detriment of his later writing in other genres). But his ability to get into the minds of children, and to write in a way that both children and adults could relate to, was an amazing gift.

||Lou’s previous When We Were Little post on Winnie-the-Pooh||

||Lou’s post on another wedding with an A A Milne reading||

Rifle is beautiful! Anna Bond is a graphic designer and illustrator, I regularly read her gorgeous blog and love how she incorporates storybook themes and reading into her art work.

uhoh  

reading fun

See Anna’s website here (there is a store coming) and blog here.

image by Robert van Raffe

There is something I just adore about this picture taken from the most amazing blog ever created, called Terrible Yellow Eyes.

The creator of this amazing blog, artist Cory Godbey, has set out to compile a visual  love letter to the classic cult picture book Where The Wild Things Are by getting fellow artists to contribute illustrations of their interpretations of the book and its characters.

All of the illustrations are incredible and leave me in absolute awe-struck bliss. Go have a look and definitely read what Cory has written about his love for the book stemming from childhood and the reasons behind this fascinating project – this is obviously something he is really passionate about and incredibly heartfelt.

Cory’s other blog Light Night Trains is also stunning.

I know this photo has been around for a while but I do love it so. Movie release is December 3rd in Aus. Just to make your Friday afternoon really fantastic go watch the trailer again.

Have you seen the latest post on the gorgeous Magnolia Square Little Snippets blog?

It is a review by us of the stunning picture book Madlenka by Peter Sis. If you are looking for a present for an independent and inquisitive little girl aged 4 plus then this book is perfect.

Little Snippets is the new blog by the clever girls from Magnolia Square markets that is devoted to children’s product. The next Magnolia Square Market will be held in Sydney July 2nd to 4th and we will be there selling beautiful books – of course! AND holding storytimes – Yippee.

Hop over to Little Snippets to find out all the details.