My Idea of "Altered" Books

Well, as an old English major and school teacher, I am a big reader and an advocate of reading to children. Our little granddaughter, Lily, will turn three during our vacation to the beach. I spent some time doctoring up some cute books that I bought for her birthday.

The first is 1001 Things to Spot in Fairyland. I collected lots of pictures of Lily and other family members, resized them to fit the illustrations, and hid them among the fairies, princesses, and castles in this book.


Sometimes I replaced the head on a drawn figure, and sometimes had them popping out of the scenery. I drew in a few wings and antennae or other little additions to match the drawings on the page.
The next book was Zinnia's Flower Garden, which has cute illustrations amid gorgeous garden photographs. I added some shots of Lily with my zinnias and other flowers from summers past.

The last altered birthday book is A Rainbow of My Own, by Don Freeman.

Lily's head nicely replaced the little boy's head on the title page picture.

Another excellent choice is Oh, The Places You'll Go, by Dr. Seuss. I doctored this book for son Dave when he graduated from high school. We had many, many pics of Dave making faces and wearing funny things on his head, and they fit in perfectly.

I have used acid-free glue-stick, clear contact paper, and gel medium to adhere the images. The contact paper still looks great after ten years. The gel medium made some of the pages a little sticky, but will probably adhere the longest.

I will let you know if these projects were a popular gift!