I LOVE Banned Books Week, so I'm highlighting a project I did for Banned Books 2015 - Banned Book Scratch-Off Cards! There's something about promoting books that people love challenging, that I just love, and I always try to do something cool to promote it - whether it's a display, program, or activity. I'm a huge proponent of intellectual freedom in all forms, so I took to the black hole of the internet for inspiration: Pinterest.
Pinterest is a dangerous place. I mean it. You start looking for one thing, and then BAM! You're in deep, eyes bulging, fingers twitching, and it's five hours later than you thought it was.
I found a recipe for home-made scratch off tickets, and they were being used as wedding party favors. I'd seen this before. Small beans... but then, a great flash went across my vision, and the lightbulb came on in my head. BANNED BOOKS WEEK SCRATCH OFFS - because what better way than to un-censor a book than to uncover it from beneath a layer of whatever-the-heck-that-scratch-off-stuff is made of. Amiright?
I adapted this pin from a Better Homes & Gardens article.
So here's what you'll need:
- A way to create an easy-to-print bookmark (I used Microsoft Publisher)
- A good printer
- Cardstock
- White crayons
- Black acrylic paint
- Dish soap
- A paintbrush
- A paper cutter
Here's what you'll do:
- Create and print your scratch-off tickets. I used Microsoft Publisher to create these. First I made these ones that have five different banned books that I chose to highlight. The reason they are challenged are beneath, so you can have fun guessing which book it is and then be properly horrified when you find out what book goes with which reasons. I made a different set that says "You won a free book!" so that we could give some free books away at our Banned Books Week Reading at the Tin Whistle Irish Pub (Tuesday, Sept. 29th at 5pm!)
- A helpful hint: Images weren't as clear once they were scratched off, but the black text on the white cardboard did fine. I used both the book cover image and text and that worked out.
- Scribble white crayon over the part that you want to have be the scratch-off part. I found it helpful to have the lines around the area to guide me.
- Mix one part dish soap to two parts black paint (you could use whatever color paint here, but black is the easiest to use to cover, and you'll only need one coat). Don't stir too vigorously, or else you'll get lots of little bubbles.
- Paint mixture evenly over the white crayon.
- Dry thoroughly.
- Test it out! You'll want to try all of them, but don't, you'll ruin it.
