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

Illustrations from picture books that have been ruined by a toddler. (Of course you could use a book that hasn’t been torn apart by a toddler, if you’re cool with mutilating books yourself)
Acrylic Paint in colors of your choosing
Mod Podge.  I used matte finish.
Paintbrushes

Instructions

Remove the pages you want to use and trim the sides with a paper cutter so they are straight and square.

Paint the canvas board the color you chose and let dry.

Adhere pages to the center of the painted canvas with Mod Podge.  Add a good coat of it under the page and then place the page on top. Then and add a coat of Mod Podge over the top of the whole canvas/ book page to seal.  You may experience some wrinkling as you apply the Mod Podge, but you can smooth it out while the page and canvas are still wet.

Let dry.  Apply another coat of Mod Podge, if needed.

Hang and enjoy your beautiful new decor. (I used command strips)

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