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Fantastic popups and paper puppets from Crankbunny

June 18, 2009 by Minnie

crankbunny zebra paper puppet pop-up cards noir darkThis zebra in a a smoking jacket drinking a cocktail puppet is so amazing!

“Festive Zebra” is a flat paper cutout puppet on a golden rod. Pull the decorative tabbed string and the Zebra takes a sip from his martini.

Norma V Toraya is the woman behind all these fantastic pop-up cards and paper puppets. Her images all have a watercolor-y textured weather feel to them bu also like they just might jump out of the paper and give you a slobbery kiss.

“Some things in life are slick, polished and blatantly obvious. But for Norma V. Toraya, who’s also known as Crankbunny, these are exactly the things she shies away from. Instead, she’s more inclined to explore timeless concepts like subtly, curiousity, texture and awkwardness. Her hand-drawn and computer-animated creations are often described as dark, sometimes noir and always magical.”

You can buy her cards from her website here and she also has a book called Paper Puppet Palooza in which she gives, templates and instruction on how to build your own paper puppet creations. Go here to click on her amazon link to buy the book.

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Have you read?

Book Review: The Festival of Lights

As if Diwali weren’t colorful and fun enough, The Festival of Lights: A Lift-the-flap Diwali Celebration by Namita Moolani Mehra, illustrated by Darshika Varm, makes it even more fun to read about with flaps and things to lift and pull to see more information or details in the illustrations. 

The book is a story about a family getting ready for Diwali and what happens on the different days of the five-day celebration. There’s cleaning, shopping, crafting, food preparation and getting the home altar ready for the big day. 

It covers decorating the outside of the house with rangoli, diyas and lanterns, buying sweets to share with family and friends, the sights and scents of the mandir (home temple), getting dressed up in new fancy clothes, the story of Diwali and celebrations with relatives.  

Flaps (there are more than 140 in all) give you vocabulary words for different foods and definitions, as well as fun things like what’s inside the shopping basket or where the cat is hanging out. They also help illuminate the story of Diwali, which is the triumph of good over evil as Lord Ram defeated the demon Ravana to save his wife, Sita. 

This pretty and colorful book helps kids understand what Diwali is and how it is celebrated, regardless of whether they practice it at home. This would be a nice book to keep in a classroom (it’s rated for kids ages 3-7) or to have at home to teach kids about Diwali even if it’s not something you celebrate. Where I live there are a lot of people from India so we are probably exposed to Diwali more than some other regions of America, but it’s a nice holiday to know about wherever you live. 

Combine with the book Diwali and check out some fun lantern crafts and printables for kids to round out your experience. 

About the book: 24 pages, hardcover, published 2025 by Wide Eyed Editions. Suggested retail prices $22.99.

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