I am extremely excited to write my first book review. A little over a month ago, I received an e-mail from Todd Huisken, asking if I would be interest in writing a book review on his book, "Mormon Origami". I was flattered that he would ask me and did a little research by going to his
website. I learned that Todd, is a licensed marriage & family therapist and that he taught early morning seminary for six years. I also learned that the book, "Mormon Origami" has 25 different origami designs in it. I was intrigued and became excited thinking of the different ways the origami designs could be used. So, I e-mailed him back my response and a little while later received his book.
When I received Todd's book in the mail, I quickly took a look. The cover of the book is very flattering. It has images of some of the different origami designs that could be made. When I open the book up, I was met with the "Contents" page which separates the designs into three categories with correlating page numbers. This makes it easy to find a particular design.
There is a page in the book that gives the background of origami, as well as an introduction to the book itself.
The other thing I thought was very beneficial is at the top of each design it lists a skill level. So, if someone is a beginner to origami, like myself, they would know where to start. Toward the back of the book there is an "Index" page that gives the reader the designs, their page number and they are listed under their skill level. I loved this. I was able to go to the back and see what designs were skill level 1, so I knew what would be good ones to start with.
Each design has step by step directions and images, making it very easy to follow along. The first one I made was the "SWORD of Laban" design (See the image at the left, it was my first attempt. The cute CTR shield is a sample that Todd sent me in the mail. I love the sword & shield together! ). I can see my boys just getting a kick out of it. I found it very easy to follow along with the images and directions given. The only thing that could possibly made it any easier would be to have papers that are pre-marked with where to fold. But then once that paper is used up, all you have is that one piece. Once, I followed the steps of a design once, then to do it again was even easier.
The other thing I thought was pretty fun, is Todd has put little trivia or interesting facts at the top of each page. This helps you gain a little knowledge about the topic of the design as you are folding away.
I am very excited about all of the many possibilities where these designs could be used. I picture using them in a Family Home Evening lesson, in Sharing Time, in Primary classes, Cub scout activities and Activity Days. Don't we learn so much more with visual aids and even more when we are learning things hands on?
If you are interested in finding more out about this book, "Mormon Origami", by Todd Huisken, you can visit his website
http://www.mormonorigami.com/.
*Disclosure: I received Todd Huisken's book "Mormon Origami" for doing this review, however all opinions mine and they are my honest opinions. I was also given special permission to display the cover of the book on this blog post.
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