STORYBOOK FAVORITES IN CROSS-STITCH by Gillian Souter. $19.95, Dutton, 1996.
I've always felt enamored with the art of cross-stitch. Learning to cross-stitch appears on my list of "things I want to do someday." What better place to begin than with the storybook characters that are such a big part of my life?
This book offers designs of contemporary book favorites such as Paddington Bear, Madeleine and Babar the elephant - and classics such as Winnie-the-Pooh, Peter Rabbit and Peter Pan. Each one is listed with suggested projects such as birth samplers, picture frames, puppets or simple toys. There are more than 45 charts with detailed instructions for each project. The finished products are photographed in four-color format and are large enough to get a good idea of what they should look like upon completion.
I particularly appreciated the introduction of the book, which provides "basic techniques," including types of fabric, sizing, embroidery threads, necessary equipment and how to read the charts.
Souter's other books, "Papercrafts" and "Floral- crafts," are the beginning of a series to help young people appreciate art forms that she thinks may otherwise be lost. Born and raised in Aberdeen, Scotland, the author now lives in Australia and is an avid cross-stitcher.
More and more in the children's publishing field, books are moving beyond just "something to read." The term "interactive" has become so much a part of the market that even the pop-up book is "old hat" compared with the new ideas of using all of the senses. There are books with accompanying CDs for listening and computer use, for example. There are books that fold out (or in!) with tabs to tug, pull, push and twist. Some books have mysteries built into the artwork, and solutions come through reading and rereading the text and pictures.
Writing critiques of these interactive books with accompanying media requires a different set of criteria than does writing a "book review." Literary elements must be considered as well as the supportive parts and the sounds, the lasting quality of the movable details and the extent to which they contribute to the total package. Often these do not mesh, and the book may exceed the quality of the "gimmick." In some cases the medium seems appropriate but the text is poorly written. There seems to be no paradigm for this kind of review, just the personal taste of the one who writes the critique. With that as a caveat, I am expressing my "personal taste" on a book that is more than a book.
Marilou Sorensen is professor emerita of education at the University of Utah.