Author/Illustrator

This afternoon, after biking back and forth from Montessori (uphill big-time on the way there, and then uphill again (?) on the way back) with a varying amount of children in the trailer, then vegging for just a little bit in front of the Numb3rs DVD set we checked out of the library while the girls did...whatever they did, I have no idea--I decided to actually, you know, parent for a couple of hours, so we dug out the markers and the crayons and the cardstock, sat down at our newly un-oceaned table (Don't worry--there's a whole new ocean set up on a big piece of plywood in the basement playroom), and made books. Little pamphlet-type books are a very simple prospect:

1. Fold a piece of cardstock in half to form a cover.
2. Use the size of your cardstock to determine the size of the typing paper you'll be using for the inside pages.
3. Fold each of the typing paper pages in half and nest them inside each other. For very little kiddos, three to five pieces of paper, equalling six to ten book pages, is plenty.
4. Put the cover over the inside pages, and staple or sew them together.
5. Give to a child, or take pencil in hand yourself, and say, "Here's a blank book. Tell me a story."

After the kitty's friends show up, they go to the park, the jungle, and the beach, eat about five different snacks, write letters to their mamas, and chase butterflies. The end.