A PowerPoint for our group's choice of great crafting books for tweens.

1. Angela Chadbourne
Angela Duncan
Dana Evans
Rory Lindsey Tomsu
Jake Weisfeld

7. Link to LEGO Catapult:
http://youtube/nCZQBjVDzHA

9. Summary: Ultimate Cardmaking includes a 58-
page techniques section that covers a wide-
range of information, including several
projects that will require special equipment
and materials. Step-by-step photographs help
illustrate techniques and projects. Instructions
are included for how to tie a bow, making
stamps out of sponges and potatoes, and using
cookie cutters, leaves, and other found objects
for stencils.
Opinion: Ultimate Cardmaking is a detailed and
comprehensive book about card making best
for older tweens. Projects include cards with
leaf rubbings, ribbon weaving, and finger print
mice with yarn tails.

10. Summary: Duct tape projects are a much have for
only tween craft programs. Stick It! is a great
beginner’s guide to duct tape projects. It can
give the YA librarian lots of ideas for individual
duct tape programs. The book is split into
eight chapter categories. Each project is given a
difficulty level of one to four asterisks. A
forward includes detailed instructions of
general tools needed.
Opinion: Including projects for duct tape
wallets, jewelry, bags and purse, wild
wearables, goods and room décor, and more
this book will keep the duct tape crafter busy
for a long time. Asides from the traditional
wallet design, some favorites include
“Namesake” – making cursive words out of
tape; “Grand” – a messenger bag resembling
piano keys; and “Time Lapse” – a four-paneled
hanging picture frame great for photo booth
pictures.

11. Summary: Author Jennifer Bonnell claims, “This
isn’t your mom’s craft book . . . And this
certainly isn’t your little sister’s what-to-to-on-
a-rainy-day book.” D.I.Y Girl is targeted at the
in-between girls with age-appropriate crafts
separated into three sections: Gifty Girl, Dress
It Up!, and Décor Diva.
Opinion: D.I.Y Girl may look like any other girly
craft book with colorful fonts, bright
pictures, and girly crafts but author Jennifer
Bonnell’s voice sets this book apart. Urging
tweens to be creative, bold, and to tap into
their inner-craft diva, D.I.Y Girl is as
empowering as a craft book can get. My
favorite project was the tough tees punk T-
shirt.

12. Summary: You’d be surprised but teens love
cooking! This is a great book to accompany
Iron Chef or Gummi Surgery programs. Teens
love food, especially if candy is involved so
what could be more fun that taking everyday
store bought candy and creating edible
masterpieces you can play with before eating?
A nice introduction gives some background on
constructing with candy and includes some
recipes for frosting motar, glue icing, etc.
Opinion: This book will cause a sugar overload!
While many of the projects are solely for home
constructing, there are a very that can be used
in a candy program (such as jewelry). It
includes chapters on moving objects, flying
objects, holiday objects, and unnatural objects.
Favorite projects include the Fudge Brownie
Steam Train (made with brownies, Ho-
Hos, and peppermint pieces), the Formula
One car (made of Oreos, Hersey pieces, fruit
slices and candy berries), and a gigantic wafer
cookie castle!

13. Summary: Running the gamut of difficulty from
simple to complex, the Star Wars Craft Book is
filled with a variety of crafts that are sure to
appeal to fans of all ages. Give in to the power
of the Crafty Side! 
Opinion: Presented with tongue firmly in
cheek, the Star Wars Craft Book presents a
wide range of crafts, such as finger
puppets, Jabba the Hutt pillows, Ewok
hats, and more!

14. Summary: This book gives step-by-step
instructions on basic ways to create friendships
bands or bracelets using a variety of
materials, such as silk
strings, macramé, embroidery floss, and
beads.
Opinion: This is a fantastic book full of ideas for
friendship bands. It is an ideal book for tweens
between the ages of 9 to 14 because the
instructions are easy to follow and a diagram of
each design is included.

15. Summary: This party planning book is one part
craft book, one part game book, and one part
recipe book. Celebrating everything Harry
Potter, the crafts and treats are directly
inspired by the movies.
Opinion: The crafts and treats have easy to follow
directions and come with a chart breakdown of
difficulty level and approximate costs making
craft selection a breeze. Any fan (big or small)
of the J.K. Rowling series will be delighted with
this book; a true must have for any Potter
party. My favorite project was the
Rememberall.

16. Summary: This is a great book that shows how to
make all kinds of stylish accessories using
everyday household items and your
imagination.
Opinion: I enjoyed viewing the various types of
jewelry young tween girls are able to make with
this book. The ideas presented are easy, fun
ways to be fashionable and creative without
spending a ton of money.

17. Summary: Creepy Cute Crochet provides
instructions for making zombies, ninjas,
Vikings, aliens, vampires, robots, and more!
Opinion: The patterns are clear and easy-to-follow
and the author’s commentary is hilarious! In
addition to the titular patterns, the book
contains plentiful pictures of the finished
products and great, helpful crochet tips
though it isn’t recommended for absolute
beginners.

18. Summary: Paper Airplanes: Flight School
introduces young aviators to 11 classic
paper airplanes that glide, spin, drift and
amuse. The book includes a materials
section of household objects but fails to
list a ruler. Step-by-step pictures enhance
the easy to follow directions.
Opinion: This is a great book that provides
active and fun crafts. The helicopter that
floats and spins to the ground is easy to
create, fun to watch, and the favorite of
my nine-year-old nephew. The spinning
blimp is a simple strip of paper that
transforms as it falls. Paper Airplanes:
Flight School’s colorful pages and large
format is appealing and provides
fantastic fun for all ages.

19. Summary: This book gives many different ideas
and techniques using the basic concepts of art
design to create various types of art from
drawings and watercolor paintings to 3-D
tapestry and origami.
Opinion:
Line, texture, shape, color, value, form, and
space are the seven elements of design this
book introduces making it a very useful tool
for all tweens and teens who are interested in
arts and crafts to have.

20. Summary: This bright and colorful book
showcases 50 fab projects that are inexpensive
and easy to make. The book includes a
materials guide and step-by-step instructions
with helpful illustrations and photographs.
Opinion: Many projects require simple gluing or
cutting, some require sewing, spool
knitting, or loom knitting. Projects include
accessories, jewelry, clothing, home décor, and
novelties. My favorites are the cigar box
makeup kit, bleach bottle piggy bank, powder
room poodle and the LP napkin holder.

21. Summary: Origami in Action offers plans for fun
paper models for builders of all skill levels!
With each model as animated as it is
exquisite, origami purists will appreciate that
none of the creations require cutting or gluing.
Opinion: The instructions provided in Origami in
Action are detailed but easy to read. While a
few models may be too complex for all but the
most advanced origami fans, the majority are
well within the skill level of the typical crafty
tween.

22. Summary: Generation T (and its companion book
Beyond Fashion) is a must have for teens who
like to recycle old shirts into something
fabulously new! The first book includes more
than 100 projects (with 200 variations) to make
new shirts, tank tops, tube
tops, skirts, blankets, handbags, leg warmers
and more! The companion book includes
many projects beyond fashion such as items
for pets, bedroom décor, and a whole chapter
on things guys can make.
Opinion: These books are nearly 300 pages each of
fun designs that go from super simple to more
complex. At the beginning of each design it
clearly states if the project is a no sew or sew
design. There is a good mixture of both. The
only downside is that not every design is in
color (there are colored middle inserts but they
don’t model off every design). Color photos
would have been more helpful. However, there
is something here for everyone, including a
wedding dress! Favorite projects include the
Two-Tiered Peasant Skirt.

23. Summary: RavensBlight is an awesome papercraft
site for teens who love horror and all things
creepy. Ray O’Bannon designs all of these
templates (with new ones appearing quite
often) and allows people to download the PDFs
of each design for free.
Opinion: RavensBlight offers a variety of haunted
paper toys for various skill levels. There are
simple designs, such as haunted
creatures, origami-like books, and haunted
board games, that don’t take much skill or time
to construct. There are also more complex
designs that take some patience, such as the
moving papercrafts and many of the more
advanced haunted houses and pirate ships. A
teen-tested and approved design is the various
3-D coffins, which average about 30 minutes to
construct. Instructions are very detailed. I
highly recommend printing out the PDFs on 11
x 17 paper which greatly enlarges the image
making the final project larger and much
easier to put together.

24. Summary: Written by two former
employees of LEGO’s Mindstorms
Robotics division, Forbidden LEGO
provides instructions for building
fun, potentially-hazardous LEGO
gadgets, such as catapults, high-speed
vehicles, and brick-launching devices.
Opinion: Forbidden LEGO should appeal
to and inspire any young mad scientist
or budding engineer. The plans
presented in the book may be too
complex for someone new to
LEGOs, but most LEGO fans should be
wreaking havoc in no time!

25. Summary: Author Dan Reed defines a screamer as
“a twisted, bug-eyed little creature with its
mouth wide open” and “an easy to build,
lovable, papier- and cloth-mâché art project.”
A short history of screamers and monsters is
followed by base directions (insert your own
design) to build your own papier-mâché
screamer.
Opinion: The book’s official age guide is seven
years and up, but be warned—all screamers are
multi-step, multi-day projects. However,
Reeder gives you all the encouragement,
inspiration, directions, and pictures (in-
process and finished product) you’ll need to
create your own loveable, hideous screamer.
My favorite project was the screamer (of
course!).

26. Summary: This book offers many exciting ideas to
make beautiful beaded jewelry and decorative
personal items, such as stationary boxes and
bookmarks, with easy-to-follow diagrams and
instructions anyone can follow.
Opinion: Beading is one of the most popular crafts
among young adults and I found this book to
give cool and exciting twists they can have fun
with and enjoy.

27. Summary: The fundamentals of creating
comics and cartoons are explained in a
comic-book narrative. Learn about
panels, lettering, gutters, and other
elements of the comic medium and how
they work together so that you can create
comics of your own!
Opinion: This book is a great introduction for
anyone who might be a bit too young for
Scott McCloud’s Making Comics (a classic
of the medium, but targeted to adults). An
understanding of the basics of cartooning is
fundamental for any young cartoonist.

28. Summary: With sweet recipes, step-by-step
instructions, and super fun projects this book
is a treat full of easy, and not so easy, ways to
make edible art. The colorful photos and
creative ideas will inspire kids of all ages
whether they just browse or exercise their
culinary skills.
Opinion: Some projects take longer than you may
think, while others are cute to look at but
difficult to eat. Projects include a no-bake
pound cake sheep covered in mini
marshmallows and “Emotipops” colorful cake
rounds piped with emoticons. The recipes
focus on visual appeal and are great for parties
when a colorful display is important.

29. Summary: This felting book includes projects for
teens to make 16 different undead
creatures, including animals (zombie
dog, cat, duck), a zombie baby, a zombie
surfer, a pumpkin head, vampire
zombie, Michael Jackson’s Thriller, and even a
template to make a felt coffin for your undead
creation.
Opinion: The introduction goes into great detail
the tools one will need and how to go about
the basic stitches required to construct the
monsters. Each zombie does require sewing
(but this could be bypassed by using strong
craft glue if doing as a program). Each project
includes a list of what you need, a template
that can be photocopied and cut out to
measure the felt pieces, and detailed textual
and pictorial step-by-step instructions. A
favorite project is the Zombie Undertaker—
he’s decked out in all black with cute skeletal
fingers and his brains pouring out from under
his tall hat.

30. Summary: Playing with Books is divided into three
sections: “Getting Started” with crafts for
beginners, “Projects to Play With” for
artists, and a “Gallery” of amazing tome
inspired professional art.
Opinion: This is an especially good book as it
allows for development of a creative self with
progression in difficulty of the projects. An
inspiring and thought-provoking gallery opens
doors to a possible unexplored area—modern
fine art. Projects include origami-inspired
envelopes, paperback cover
postcards, paperback business card
holders, and votive stands. More experienced
crafters can make “Book Jacket Billfolds” and a
“Pocketbook” clutch.

31. Summary: Crafty Girl has 45 project ideas to make
over a tween girl’s bedroom. The book is
divided into six sections covering
walls, windows, dressers, accessories, and
more.
Opinion: This neat little book has great ideas for
tween girls to add a little personality to their
bedroom. This is a great idea book for girls
who are ready to spread their crafting wings
and make their bedroom into a space that truly
reflects them. My favorite project was the
illustrated curtain.

32. Summary: This book encourages tweens to take
what they can collect outdoors, such as
sticks, rocks, and leaves, and turn them into
beautiful works of art they can be proud of
while having a ton of fun doing it.
Opinion: Not only does this book give fantastic
ideas for crafts for tweens to make, but it
promotes tweens to be responsible and safe, as
all of the crafts presented can be made with
little to no adult supervision.

33. Summary: Learn how to “upcycle your trash” by
turning old milk cartons, bottle caps, paper
towel rolls, and other items headed for the
recycle bin into stylish accessories, jewelry, and
gifts. In five steps or less, trash becomes
treasure.
Opinion: This eco-friendly book truly uses easy to
find everyday items that would otherwise be
thrown out to make novelties that would
appeal to most tween girls. The wonderful
pictures add a “gotta make it” element to each
craft. My favorite project was the wonderfully
warm bed sheet scarf.

34. Ultimate Cardmaking: A Collection of Over 100 Techniques and 50 Inspirational Projects (Angela C.)
Sarah Beaman
Collins & Brown, 2008
$24.95 (Hardcover) ISBN 978-1-843-40438-5
Stick It!: 99 D.I.Y. Duct Tape Projects (Rory)
T.L. Bonaddio
Running Press Kids, 2009
$16.95 (Spiral-bound Hardcover) ISBN 978-0-762-43494-7
D.I.Y. Girl (Angela D.)
Jennifer Bonnell
Puffin, 2003
$12.99 (Paperback) ISBN-10 0142500488
Candy Construction: How to Build Edible Race Cars, Castles, and Other Cool Stuff Out of Store-Bought Candy!
(Rory)
Sharon Bowers
Storey Publishing, 2010
$14.95 (Paperback) ISBN 978-1-603-42548-3

35. The Star Wars Craft Book (Jake)
Bonnie Burton
LucasBooks, 2011
$20 (Paperback) ISBN 978-0-345-51116-4
Friendship Bands: Braiding, Weaving, Knotting (Dana)
Marlies Busch, Nadja Layer, Angelika Neeb & Elisabeth Walch
Sterling, 1997
$7.95 (Paperback) ISBN 978-0-806-90309-5
The Unofficial Harry Potter Party Book: From Monster Books to Potions Class! Crafts, Games, and Treats
(Angela D.)
Jessica Fox
CreateSpace, 2011
$15.95 (Paperback) ISBN 978-1-461-03787-3
Dangles and Bangles: 25 Funky Accessories to Make and Wear (Dana)
Sherri Haab
Watson-Guptill, 2005
$9.95 (Paperback) ISBN 978-0-823-00064-7

36. Creepy Cute Crochet: Zombies, Ninjas, Robots, and More! (Jake)
Christen Haden
Quirk Books, 2008
$14.95 (Paperback) ISBN 978-1-594-74232-3
Paper Airplanes Flight School (Angela C.)
Christopher L. Harbro
Capstone Press, 2010
$27.32 (Hardcover) ISBN 978-1-429-64741-0
Making Amazing Art! (Dana)
Sandi Henry & Sarah Cole
Ideals Publications, 2007
$12.99 (Paperback) ISBN 978-0-824-96795-6
The Craftster Guide to Nifty, Thrifty, and Kitschy Crafts: Fifty Fabulous Projects from the Fifties and Sixties
(Angela C.)
Leah Kramer
Ten Speed Press, 2006
$17.95 (Paperback) ISBN-10 1580087477

37. Origami in Action (Jake)
Robert Lang
St. Martin’s Griffin, 1997
$19.99 (Paperback) ISBN 978-0-312-15618-3
Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-Shirt (Rory)
Megan Nicolay
Workman Publishing Company, 2006
$15.95 (Paperback) ISBN 978-0-761-13785-6
RavensBlight Haunted Papercrafts (Rory)
Ray O’Bannon
Website: http://ravensblight.com/papertoys.html
Free simple and advanced haunted papercraft templates
Forbidden LEGO: Build the Models Your Parents Warned You Against! (Jake)
Ulrik Pilegaard & Mike Dooley
No Starch Press, 2007
$24.95 (Paperback) ISBN 978-1-593-27137-4

38. The Simple Screamer: A Guide to the Art of Papier and Cloth Mache (Angela D.)
Dan Reeder
Gibbs Smith, 1983
Price Unknown (Paperback) ISBN 978-0-879-05163-1
20-Minute Crafts: Beading (Dana)
Katherine Stull
Sterling/Chapelle, 2006
$12.95 (Paperback) ISBN 978-1-402-72429-9
Adventures in Cartooning: How to Turn Your Doodles into Comics (Jake)
James Sturm, Andrew Arnold & Alexis Frederick-Frost
First Second, 2009
$12.99 (Paperback) ISBN 978-1-596-43369-4
Cupcakes, Cookies, & Pie, Oh, My! (Angela C.)
Karen Tack & Alan Richardson
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012
$17.95 (Paperback) ISBN 978-0-547-66242-8

39. Zombie Felties: How to Raise 16 Gruesome Felt Creatures from the Undead (Rory)
Nicola Tedman & Sarah Skeate
Andrew McMeel Publishing, 2010
$14.95 (Paperback) ISBN 978-0-740-79764-4
Playing with Books: The Art of Upcycling, Deconstructing and Reimaging the Book (Angela C.)
Jason Thompson
Quarry Books, 2010
$24.99 (Paperback) ISBN 978-1-592-53600-9
Crafty Girl Cool Stuff: Things to Make and Do (Angela D.)
Jennifer Traig and Julianne Balmain
Chronicle Books, 2001
$12.95 (Paperback) ISBN-10 0811829456
Nature Crafts (Dana)
Joy Williams
North Light Books, 2002
$12.95 (Paperback) ISBN 978-1-581-80292-4
Reclyclo-gami: 40 Crafts to Make Your Friends Green with Envy (Angela D.)
Laurie Goldrich Wolf
Running Press Kids, 2011
$14.95 (Paperback) ISBN 978-0-762-44052-8