More about making books!

Want to make a book WITH your grand, but not sure how to approach it? Let them take the pictures for the book!

Background~

I gave my grandchildren a Fisher Price camera one year. I actually gave it to my firstborn grandson, but his sisters eventually used it too. When we would have playdates, taking pictures of our community gave us a new mission. We would go on photo safaris--taking pictures of various sights around our town. I never wanted to have the photo safari be in and of itself. I wanted them to use those pictures in a scrapbook or even a published book.

More background~

One evening I was babysitting my granddaughters, and we were doing what we often do--reading books. One of the girls brought me a book called, "Goodnight Houston." * That was it! We'd use the photos that my granddaughter had recently taken of sights around our community and make a book, "Goodnight My Town." I talked to firstborn granddaughter privately about it, and we had a plan. Not only would we take more pictures of locations around town, we would create a book based on "Goodnight Moon." Furthermore, if we could be covert about it, we would present said book to her younger sister for Christmas! Love it when a project comes together!

My well worn copy of Margaret Wise Brown's, "Goodnight Moon." We would pattern our book after this beloved children's classic.

My granddaughter would choose a picture for her cover. She took all the pictures and chose all the photos for the book.

Procedure~

This operation is the same as the previous blog about making a book for your grand. I downloaded all her pictures to a file on my computer. Then I went to a bookmaking website and followed their step-by-step directions. I have a Mac so I actually used the booking-making application that came with IPhoto for this one. My granddaughter picked her favorite photo for the cover and chose the order of pictures. She also took pictures around the house and of family pets. She based her text on the pattern in "Goodnight Moon." We ended the book with a picture of her and her brother wishing their little sister, "Goodnight."

Sample Pages:

Favorite sights around town.

Got to have a picture of that carousel!

She took pictures of all the family's pets: the rabbit, the dog and this cat.

She ended the book copying the line from Margaret Wise Brown: "And goodnight to the old lady whispering 'hush'."

And lastly...

Unfortunately I don't have a picture from Christmas morning when she presented the book to her sister. But I made her an additional copy to donate to her school's library. We changed out some of the more personal photos that she had added for her sister, and made the book for her school more community centered. How fun to have your book barcoded and available for check-out at your school! Such a GREAT project to do with a grandchild!

Final thoughts~

I hope you'll make a book WITH your grand. This blog is about copying, copying, copying and sharing of ideas about being a grandparent. As I've stated in my "About" page, I'm a former school teacher and as any school teacher will tell you, we copy and share ideas constantly. We just keep STIRRING THE POT. So take this idea and GO! And please contact me with any ideas you have. I would love to hear. 

"Goodnight Moon" by Margaret Wise Brown
​"Goodnight Houston" by Jennifer Solak and Kyle Solak