Spring  2011

Teachers and librarians, all,

       We are here as we have been going on thirty three years, designing materials to add visual excitement to your storytelling. We know that your jobs in schools and libraries are always challenging. We want to help by doing what we do best, taking creative leaps with fabric, paint and glitter to spark excitement when the room gets quiet in anticipation of a story well told.

       Our newest prop, shown above, is a lovely pink cake to accompany the book Clever Jack Takes the Cake, complete with candles, frosting, a perfect strawberry and a heart declaring friendship. This is a story for our times. Owning very little, Jack trades his few possessions for the basic ingredients to bake a cake for the Princess’s birthday. In the end what he has to give the Princess is a story from the heart.   

        Book Props are handmade, beautifully detailed, interactive sets that add depth and visual excitement to storytelling in classroom and library group settings. A few pieces are generic characters, but most are based on our own visual reinvention of

the images of specific children’s books. We never copy illustrations from the books

we use, in fact we go out of our way to make them entirely our own. Our Show-a-

tale aprons and banners, with Velcro-sticking ability, are the preferred methods of presentation for our props. Our work is entirely made here in Oregon and is original, well-crafted and fully guaranteed. This is the only place on the planet where Book Props can be purchased. We use a variety of durable fabrics from brushed nylon to felted wool, much of which we dye to get specific colors. The individual pieces are sewn, silkscreened, sometimes stuffed and finely hand painted. The intent is to capture the attention of children to bring stories alive and to add a visual dimension to the unique pleasure that is storytelling. We do all we can to imbue our work with our passion for ideas, books and reading. We are deeply grateful to Dr. Peggy Sharp for using Books Props in her seminars around the United States.