Angela Chadbourne

Angela Duncan

Dana Evans

Rory Lindsey Tomsu

Jake Weisfeld

Great Nonfiction Books for Teens

Crafting

Top Picks

Playing with Books

The Unofficial Harry Potter Party Book

Dangles and Bangles

Ravensblight Papercraftshttp://ravensblight.com/papertoys.html

Forbidden LEGO

Link to LEGO Catapult:

http://youtube/nCZQBjVDzHA

Other Great Crafting Titles

for Tweens

Ultimate Cardmaking: A Collection of Over 100 Techniques and 50 Inspirational Projects

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.

Stick It!: 99 D.I.Y. Duct Tape Projects

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.

D.I.Y. Girl

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.

Candy Construction: How to Build Edible Race Cars, Castles, and Other Cool Stuff Out of Store-Bought Candy!

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!

The Star Wars Craft Book

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!

Friendship Bands: Braiding, Weaving, Knotting

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.

The Unofficial Harry Potter Party Book

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.

Dangles and Bangles: 25 Funky Accessories to Make and Wear

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.

Creepy Cute Crochet: Zombies, Ninjas, Robots, and More!

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.

Paper Airplanes Flight School

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.

Making Amazing Art!

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.

The Craftster Guide to Nifty, Thrifty, and Kitschy Crafts: Fifty Fabulous Projects from the Fifties and

Sixties

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.

Origami in Action

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.

Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-Shirt

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.

RavensBlight Haunted Papercrafts

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.

Forbidden LEGO: Build the Models Your Parents Warned You Against!

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!

The Simple Screamer

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!).

20-Minute Crafts: Beading

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.

Adventures in Cartooning: How to Turn Your Doodles into Comics

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.

Cupcakes, Cookies, & Pie, Oh, My!

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.

Zombie Felties: How to Raise 16 Gruesome Felt Creatures from the

Undead

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.

Playing with Books: The Art of Upcycling, Deconstructing and Reimaging the Book

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.

Crafty Girl Cool Stuff: Things to Make and Do

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.

Nature Crafts

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.

Reclyclo-gami: 40 Crafts to Make Your Friends Green with Envy

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.

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

Bibliography

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

Bibliography

Creepy Cute Crochet: Zombies, Ninjas, Robots, and More! (Jake)Christen HadenQuirk Books, 2008$14.95 (Paperback) ISBN 978-1-594-74232-3 Paper Airplanes Flight School (Angela C.)Christopher L. HarbroCapstone Press, 2010$27.32 (Hardcover) ISBN 978-1-429-64741-0

Making Amazing Art! (Dana)Sandi Henry & Sarah ColeIdeals 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 KramerTen Speed Press, 2006$17.95 (Paperback) ISBN-10 1580087477

Bibliography

Origami in Action (Jake) Robert LangSt. Martin’s Griffin, 1997$19.99 (Paperback) ISBN 978-0-312-15618-3 Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-Shirt (Rory)Megan NicolayWorkman Publishing Company, 2006$15.95 (Paperback) ISBN 978-0-761-13785-6 RavensBlight Haunted Papercrafts (Rory)Ray O’BannonWebsite: http://ravensblight.com/papertoys.htmlFree simple and advanced haunted papercraft templates Forbidden LEGO: Build the Models Your Parents Warned You Against! (Jake)Ulrik Pilegaard & Mike DooleyNo Starch Press, 2007$24.95 (Paperback) ISBN 978-1-593-27137-4

Bibliography

The Simple Screamer: A Guide to the Art of Papier and Cloth Mache (Angela D.)Dan ReederGibbs Smith, 1983Price Unknown (Paperback) ISBN 978-0-879-05163-1 20-Minute Crafts: Beading (Dana)Katherine StullSterling/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-FrostFirst Second, 2009$12.99 (Paperback) ISBN 978-1-596-43369-4 Cupcakes, Cookies, & Pie, Oh, My! (Angela C.)  Karen Tack & Alan RichardsonHoughton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012$17.95 (Paperback) ISBN 978-0-547-66242-8

Bibliography

Zombie Felties: How to Raise 16 Gruesome Felt Creatures from the Undead (Rory)Nicola Tedman & Sarah SkeateAndrew 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 ThompsonQuarry 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 BalmainChronicle Books, 2001$12.95 (Paperback) ISBN-10 0811829456

Nature Crafts (Dana)Joy WilliamsNorth 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 WolfRunning Press Kids, 2011$14.95 (Paperback) ISBN 978-0-762-44052-8

Bibliography