As I embark on my prompt challenge, I’ve been taking note of interesting book structures that I can use. I’m not sure if this one has a name, other than “mix and match.” Each page is cut into 3 parts, horizontally, so that new pages can be composed by the reader. Most examples I’ve seen build new creatures from a head, torso and legs/feet.
The one to the left is called Build Your Own President and they say “Let your fingers do the voting. Flip the panels of this mix-and-match book to create your own presidential candidate from the smoldering wreckage of the current field. Combine Perry’s great hair with Newt’s humility and Bachmann’s progressive social policies. 1,000 possibilities in total. Just don’t expect to find a good one.”
There’s also an online version {first seen on boing-boing}
I think these mix-and-match structures are a species of Exquisite Corpse books.
I’ve heard them called exquisite corpse books (based on this game: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exquisite_corpse). I made them with some elementary school students, and they adored them.
Thanks for the entry on our presidents book! Cathy and Brittany are right – we were originally inspired by the exquisite corpse game. For the presidents’ book, we stuck with the format of head, body and legs – but the first book we did in this format we tried to make things more complicated. You can see a free online version here: http://idiotsbooks.com/wordpress/10kStories/
We divided the page into four and had ten stories and their matching illustrations able to recombine into 10,000 different combinations. It was a challenge to figure out, but it’s a really fun format. We also did some single page recombinables in different formats which you can download here, if you’re interested:
http://idiotsbooks.com/?page_id=48
Thanks again!
How did you print this? Did you do the wire-o binding first, and then cut the interior pages?
For my own versions of these books, I printed, bound and then cut the pages. For the book pictured, you’ll have to ask Idiot Books. See the comment from Robbi above.