Folding Fun: Zombigami by Duy Nguyen

For holiday crafters for whom the quirkiest of pumpkin carving accomplishments is no challenge, Sterling Publishing has just the book.

Subtitled Paper Folding Fun for the Living Dead, Duy Nguyen's brand-new Zombigami (Sterling, 2011) catches the zombie mania with cast of kooky characters for the discriminating crafters--Starvin' Marvin, Seymour Guts, The Abominable Deadman, The Skull Crusher, Idle Hands, Phineas Gouge, and Susie Gravemaker.

Nguyen's book includes 50 sheets of origami paper and very detailed drawings to get the fumble-fingered on the way to the production of these spooky creations, organizing the items so that the book also provides instruction in several basic techniques in order of difficulty--the "valley fold," "mountain fold," "base fold," and "sink fold,"--to name a few, and each succeeding figure incorporates a new technique into those already introduced. Illustrations utilize different colors (grey and green) for the two sides of the item, making it easier to visualize the correct steps as the crafter goes along. Some of the figures require a bit of snipping or tearing as the finishing touches.

Zombigami requires a fair degree of digital dexterity, well within the capabilities of middle elementary students, with the added advantage of being a fun way to master those spacial relations visualization skills that will come back to, um, haunt teen students on those standardized tests out there in their future. Not to mention that the completed spooky projects are drop-dead impressive.