If nothing else sends you to the loony bin as a parent of a school age child, then covering books with contact surely will. I'm certain that in homes across the land, there are parents swearing and muttering under their breath about the bloody need to cover books. If you disagree and actually look forward to and love covering books with contact, then I advise you seek medical assistance immediately.
I only got two to cover last night but I'm sure an avalanche is coming with both Thomas and Daniel now in school. Pity the people who have four or more children...they won't want to see contact for the next several months! I'm sure the amount of books I get to cover will be relative to the amount of books I sent home for covering (karma?). However, before you curse the teacher, imagine if he/she had to cover close to 200 books (if not more) on their own. Many hands make light work. Sort of.
Not sure who came up with the idea of self-adhesive plastic for covering books, but good one! No need for tape. Quick. Simple. Right? Ummm wrong! You have to cover each book with almost military precision...one false move and you could end up with an air bubble disaster that no ruler will smooth out!
I must admit that usually I'm pretty good with book covering. I learnt my craft from my Dad who always got the book covering job when we were growing up. He is a perfectionist so most of our books were pretty well covered. But even a perfectionist is no match for contact when it decides to behave badly. And last night I came unstuck in the book covering department...or stuck as the case may be. I didn't end up with air bubbles but I must have pulled the contact too tightly and ended up with a very small fold near the spine of the book, which resulted in the book cover being a few centimetres too short for the actual pages. I did my best to pull it back into shape...but as most of you know, when contact sticks, it sticks!
For those who have failed miserably at covering books with contact, never fear. Hope is at hand. And practise does offer improvement, if not perfection. My cousin Marie was very proud of herself after covering her Year 1 daughter's books this week with no bubbles!! Her young daughter quipped, "Wow Mum, these look so much better than my Kindy books!" Well done Marie! Gold star for you! I was actually thinking of you as I stuffed up my own covering last night haha.
For all you new school parents who may not be familiar with contact and covering books, here's a YouTube video made by a young girl (click on image below to watch). It's not the method I use and to tell you the truth, I'm not sure it's the easiest way. Have a look and see what you think.
Have you used the above method?
Are you able to offer any tips or tricks for book covering?
Oh no, you've reminded me! I'll be doing this allllll weekend! Argh!
ReplyDeleteMy Dad did ours too and taught us to do our own. But seriously, why do them at all? I simply label my children's books. They look just as good at the end of the year as the start. They don't care what their books look like. Why do we care so much?
ReplyDeleteHaving been a teacher, I know that if books aren't covered they can end up looking like the dog chewed them :)
DeleteGreat post ...... When I get an air bubble , I pierce a hole with a pin and smooth out the air. I hate when you get the creases as nothing repairs them. It's funny how you always seem to ruin the front!
ReplyDeleteRosa
I feel your pain Cathy. I did a terrible job with the Kindy books last year and let me tell you, I needed to use the pin to pop lots of bubbles lol but after all the practice I got covering several books for the new school library, I think my son’s year one books came out pretty good :)Oh the YouTube clip is great, that’s pretty much how cover the books but I don’t use the ruler, just my fingers. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteAhhhhh the dreaded date with contact. I was bitching and moaning last night to a friend about covering 14 books and she conveniently remind me she now has all 4 kids at school and had 32 books to cover. Oh the joy ;)
ReplyDelete32 books...ouch! Think I'd be paying someone to do it lol
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