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A Very Merry Birthday to Lewis Carroll!

Illustration by Jessie Willcox Smith (Source)

Lewis Carroll was born on January 27, 1832.  He is best known for writing Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in 1865 and its sequel Through the Looking Glass in 1871.  The name Lewis Carroll is a made-up name that the author used for his novels and poetry.  His real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson.  Besides being an author of fantasy novels, Dodgson was a mathematician.  He used his real name for his mathematical works.

If you're interested in reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland or other works by Lewis Carroll, you can download them at Project Gutenberg for free!

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Bookmaking with the Masked Pixie - Part 5: The Envelope Book

This is the fifth post in a series of instructions about making books. If your are intersted in making other kinds of books, check out  Part 1: The Basic Book, Part 2: The Bow Book, Part 3: The Accordion Book and Part 4: The Scroll.


The instructions for this book are the same as the instructions for the Basic Book in Part 1, but instead of regular paper, this book's pages are made from envelopes.  There are different ways you can use the envelopes to tell a story. 

You can tell a story through letters written by your characters.  This is called an epistolary book.

You can make a joke or riddle book.  Write the question on the outside of the envelope and write the answer on the inside of the envelope's flap.

You can make a hide-and-seek book.  When the reader opens the envelope he or she finds a picture under the flap.

Let's get started . . .

Pen Names Quiz

A pen name, or a nom de plume, is a name an author uses instead of his or her real name.  Why use a different name?  An author might want a more interesting or unique name.  An author also might want to hide his or her real identity.  In the past, especially during the 1800's, women writers sometimes used male names or just their initials because it was more difficult for women to get their work published at that time.

Can you match each author's pen name to the correct real name?  The names in red are pen names and the names in green are real names.

Mark Twain 
J. K. Rowling 

Lewis Carroll 

Stan Lee  

Dr. Seuss 

Theodore Geisel
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson
Joanne Rowling
Samuel Langhorne Clemens
Stanley Martin Lieber

Click "Read more" to see if your answers are right!

Happy Birthday A. A. Milne!

Illustration by E. H. Shepard. (Source)

A. A. Milne, the creator of Winnie-the-Pooh, was born on January 18, 1882.  He also wrote plays, novels, and poems.  Milne published Winnie-the-Pooh in 1926 and The House at Pooh Corner in 1928.  The character Christopher Robin was inspired by his son, while Pooh was inspired by his son's teddy bear.  The toy bear was named after a real bear at the London Zoo that was called Winnie (short for Winnipeg).

The true bear that inspired the Pooh Bear. (Source)

You can find out more about the inspirations for Winnie-the-Pooh and other book characters from this video from Yahoo News.

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Happy National Dress Up Your Pet Day!

January 14th is National Dress Up Your Pet Day.  It's easy to celebrate . . . just dress up your pet!  Don't have a pet to dress up?  No problem.  You can print out this Poodle paper doll and dress her up!  (Goldfish has chosen to not participate in this celebration.  It's just not her cup of tea.)

Click on the images to enlarge, then print.  You can also print the PDF version (page 1 and page 2).

Happy Birthday Charles Perrault!

Illustration of Cinderella by Oliver Herford. (Source)

Once upon a time there was a French author named Charles Perrault who wrote fairy tales.  He was born in Paris on January 12, 1628.  In 1697 he published Tales from Times Past, a book of fairy tales, such as Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, and Puss and Boots.  Perrault did not invent these stories (they were folktales that had been passed down for years and years and years), but he wrote them down and his versions of the tales became popular.  Did you know the Disney movie Cinderella was based on Charles Perrault's version of the story?

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