Hello, friends! Our books today are two titles from Odd Dot books’ and Keith Zoo’s Show-How Guides series: Egg Decorating, written by Renée Kurilla and illustrated by Zoo, and Paper Airplanes, written and illustrated by Zoo.

Using simple, step-by-step instructions and illustrations, and with occasional interjections by two adorable “dot” characters, young crafters can learn the basic techniques of and unique applications for each guidebook’s subject. In Egg Decorating, readers can learn how to hard-boil eggs, as well as dye, paint, and decorate them, and even how to use the eggs once they’ve been spiffed up. In Paper Airplanes, readers can learn how to make eighteen different types of paper gliders, each ranked by qualities like speed, airtime, and distance.

Neat! These pocket-sized guides do a great job of introducing the bare bones of each craft, then expanding on that information to include ways for each young maker to express their own creative flair. Safety and cleanliness notes in Egg Decorating will be especially appreciated by adult readers, like asking for help with boiling eggs or reminding kiddos to put down newspaper before working with paint and dye. The visual design of the instructions, line drawings laid out in numbered panels, makes instructions very easy to follow. Only two small complaints: one, the design of the books themselves make them VERY hard to lay or prop open, sort of a necessity when using as reference while one’s hands are full. And two, the tricolor scheme within the books limits their ability to express variation in design. Otherwise, these are neat little guidebooks, and would be great gifts for creative young bookworms. Overall, we liked them, and they’re baby bookworm approved!

(Note: A copy of these books were provided to The Baby Bookworm by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.)