A deckle edge is when the pages of a book are cut in a ragged way so that they seem to be trimmed by hand. Turns out the tradition of creating those edges is pretty interesting:

The deckle edge dates back to a time when you used to need a knife to read a book. Those rough edges simulate the look of pages that have been sliced open by the reader. The printing happened on large sheets of paper which were then folded into rectangles the size of the finished pages and bound. The reader then sliced open the folds.

There’s a great article on this tradition at:

www.themillions.com

Yesterday I visited Malta Avenue Elementary and caught up with my longtime friend, librarian Colleen Leclaire. We did a full day, then an evening reading program that drew over two hundred people – a great turnout for a Friday night. Kudos to the Malta Avenue parents and everyone who worked so hard to make it all happen.

Below are a just a few of the pirate designs for Backbeard’s crew made by the kids at Malta Avenue…

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I visited Division Street Elementary School in Saratoga yesterday, where the kids had done some really funny pictures of what Backbeard’s costume might have looked like had he been shopping for clothes in other parts of the world. Here are just a few of my favorites:

Hawaii...

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Just finished a grand day at Slingerlands Elementary. It’s a wonderful school, and the teachers and students all made me feel right at home. (Thanks especially to Mrs. Collen for being such a wonderful host.)

One project the Slingerlands kids worked on was to write a pages recommending ideas for what my next book should be. They were, by and large, genius. Here are a few of my favorites.

The next book should be about…

…the pig’s F.B.I. motorcycle.

…two jelly beans that talk and almost get eaten

…a special seed that can turn into a tree that can move and can change into anything.

…dinosaurs vs. Backbeard.

(and my favorite)

…Backbeard sells donuts.

I’m happy to report that the Lion’s Share DVD is now available from Nutmeg Media, perfect for school libraries everywhere. The people at Nutmeg did a great job with this, and I’m really pleased with the results.