Obscure Kids Book Filter
July 22, 2009 10:39 PM   Subscribe

Children'sBookFilter: Help me find any awesomely simple children's book from my childhood

When I was growing up we had a simple book that I would love to have for our children when we have them. The book was tall and narrow and was separated into four sections (Head, torso, legs, and feet). You could flip the different "Pages" and mix and match to create bizarre creatures (ie- dragon head, pirate body, horse legs, cat feet etc). It was bound like a spiral booklet and was printed on a thick cardboard like material. I don't think there was any story, it was just a neat book to play with.

Thank you for any help!
posted by ThaBombShelterSmith to Media & Arts (7 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: Did a search for Mix and Match books.

May not help find the exact one you had as a kid, but you're sure to find something to fit the bill. Cool idea.
posted by Kimothy at 10:43 PM on July 22, 2009


I can almost picture it, but can't place it. Here's a newer one on half.com that looks cool. There are new little plastic cups at Starbucks right now that do this, but no pics online.
posted by artychoke at 12:08 AM on July 23, 2009


Best answer: I had one of these when I was a kid, and they were great. Kimothy's Mix and Match books suggestion is good or, if you or a friend are artistically inclined, you could make your own. Just draw some different animals/people/aliens/whatever interests you or your kids on some cardstock (making sure that the shoulders, waist and ankles are at the same width and height on each picture so they'll match when you flip them), cut lines at the variuos sectiosn and have them bound at Kinko's or somewhere. It could be really really neat and, as a bonus, you could include family members (look, here's what you'd look like with Daddy's feet! There's Fernando, our pet mink; doesn't he look silly with a knight's head?).
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 5:08 AM on July 23, 2009


variuos sectiosn? Seriously? It is too early for me to be typing, sorry.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 5:32 AM on July 23, 2009


Best answer: Was it this one? I had it and absolutely loved it.
posted by ephemerista at 7:29 AM on July 23, 2009


Best answer: I had about 20 books like that... my mom really liked them for some reason? So I don't know that we can help with that specific one, because, well, there were several that met that description. My guess is that bookstores will have several, and now that amazon exists...

And we also drew our own -- despite our incredibly horrendous artistic skills (I have still not moved beyond stick figures). You really don't need to professionally bind them -- get index cards (or 1/2 index cards) and cardboard that is the full-size of 3-4 of them stacked up to use as the front and back covers, punch holes with a hole punch in the same place on each card, and tie together with yarn. This is a great (and was a common) rainy-day-type activity.
posted by brainmouse at 10:53 AM on July 23, 2009


Response by poster: Ah thank you all so much! While I'm not any of these are the exact book (not sure if I'd even recognize it anyway!), this is DEFINITELY what I was looking for. I think that Monster book is the closest. Now that I think about it, I seem to remember a knight and a dragon ad a princess in our book.

I also love the idea of making our own, that sounds like a great idea.

(ps- I love metafilter. Thank you again, Hivemind!)
posted by ThaBombShelterSmith at 6:37 PM on July 23, 2009


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