Paper Crafts for Mardi Gras

January 1, 2012

Gr 1-5-Each title covers a specific holiday with eight fun and easy crafts. They include pop-up cards, paper chains, mobiles, and trees, along with some more-advanced, more-specific projects, like masks for Mardi Gras or presidential busts made from hollowed or plastic eggs for Presidents' Day. The format is inviting, using bright colors and big fonts, and the numbered steps are easy to follow. The books even come with tracing patterns (many of which need to be blown up before copying), which can be a tremendous help. Serviceable but nonessential additions.-Heather Talty, formerly at Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School, New York City

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2011
Grades 2-4 There seems to be no holiday that the Paper Craft Fun for Holidays series can't match with some cunning use of toilet-paper rolls, aluminum foil, and glitter glue. McGee begins this volume with a nice two-page summary on the origins of Fat Tuesday before diving into the eight crafts, which, as always, range from the super simple to the tantrum inducing. The best of them look challenging but sure to please, with some unique mechanics to boot, such as the paper-bead throw necklace, the gold-doubloon necklace, and the Columbina mask. The descriptions are not always crystal clear, but the photos are helpful. As a bonus, the finished projects are consistently humble, which will lower the frustration factor of newbie crafters. Each craft comes complete with a paragraph establishing a historical context and a list of materials needed. A back section of tracing patterns will help tremendously, though the cue to enlarge 125% probably indicates that a larger trim size would have been ideal.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)