What To Do With Ripped Picture Books
Do you have a book ripper at your house? We do. He’s adorable and so fun, but just can’t seem to help himself if any books are left in his room during naptime. This began several weeks ago and I was completely shocked the first time it happened. I went in to get our bouncing baby boy after his nap and one of his all time favorite books (The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats) was completely in shreds, scattered all around the room.
We’ve never had a book-ripper before. So I hoped it was a one-time incident, picked up the pieces and made a big show about how now we had to throw the book away because it was ruined. If just one or two pages had been ripped I would have salvaged it, but so many pages were ruined beyond recognition that I know we couldn’t fix it. I was hoping Elijah’s sadness about losing his favorite book would keep him from ripping up any more. Turns out, that’s not what happened. A few days later he ripped another favorite (I Want To Be An Astronaut by Byron Barton). I promptly removed all the books from his room and we are now extra diligent to make sure none are left in with him after reading at naptime and bedtime. He loves books and being read to, but ripping is also one of his favorite things.
Because I adore the illustrations in both books Elijah destroyed, I wanted to put the undamaged pages to good use. I picked a couple of favorite pages, specifically avoiding those with text on them (though you certainly wouldn’t have to do that) and used them to make decor for his room.
Supplies
Instructions
Let dry. Apply another coat of Mod Podge, if needed.