My nephew is really into making flying rockets out of paper. He's five. Well, I wanted to impress the little devil, not an easy feat as this young man is more proficient on the computer than I'll ever hope to be, so I got this book, decided to learn how to make a couple complicated paper planes.
My plan, learn a couple of these designs, practice them over and over till I could fabricate them blindfolded, do them in my sleep. I wanted to make making these babies as easy as tying shoes.
I skipped the easy stuff, went right to the Trang on page 75. This baby was for me. If I could knock this out, while watching television, you know, as sort of an after thought, well that little booger would really, really be impressed.
First off, let me say, that maybe I should have started slow and worked up, but I didn't. There are seventeen different steps to building this glider and the design assumes that you've at least looked at some that have come before. But after several failed attempts, I got it down. I went through quite a bit of paper, but I mastered this (in between practicing the Trang I was learning how to juggle, a feat my nephew wants to master, but is having trouble with).
So the next time my brother asked me to babysit, I did my juggling bit. My nephew wasn't impressed. But when I built that Trang while watching Wolf Blitzer on CNN, now that impressed him. If you've got kids, or nieces or nephews, this is a good book to have around. Really!
Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne