Practical Puppetry A-Z

December 1, 2005
Exner writes from experience about working with groups of children of different ages and abilities on puppetry classes and projects, and many of her ideas are good ones. Unfortunately, the book does not have sufficient illustrative material. Directions for building an oatmeal-box mouth puppet, for example, need step-by-step drawings. The author includes well-written articles about the styles and uses of puppetry in various cultures -but how can readers be expected to understand the nature of the Turkish trickster Karagoz or Indonesian Wayang puppetry without illustrations of their puppet figures and stages? This title would be fine as a supplementary book for a large collection on the subject, but beginners would be better served by digging up copies of the excellent books by the late Nancy Renfro and her cowriters that were published in the 1970s and '80s (now mostly out of print, but still available in many library systems)." -Walter Minkel, New York Public Library"

Copyright 2005 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2006
In a lively, personal tone, author Exner presents the art of puppetry as a creative and engaging way to snag the interests of both adults and children. Presented in alphabetical order, approximately 135 entries cover everything from starting a puppetry business to puppetry history to creating numerous kinds of puppets: glove, sponge, life-size, even marionettes. Construction is covered in entries dealing with types of puppets and in those dealing with puppet features. Black-and-white photographs and diagrams extend the text and clarify descriptions and instructions. Each entry ends with bibliographic citations to more detailed works on the topic in question. An annotated bibliography and a sound index end the volume. Broader in scope than either Jenean Romberg's " Let's Discover Puppets" (Center for Applied Research in Education, 1976) or Jeffrey L. Peyton's" Puppetools: Introductory Guide and Your Specialized Applications Manual\b \b0" (Prescott Durell, 1986), this is an excellent resource for school or public libraries with a focus on puppets as literary and promotional tools. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)