Happy Women’s History Month! Our bookmark craft today is inspired by Augusta Braxton Baker: storyteller, librarian, listener, teacher, and the woman who in 1961 became the first Black coordinator of children’s services for the New York Public Library.
In Go Forth and Tell, written by Breanna J. McDaniel and illustrated by April Harrison, little Augusta loves listening to her grandmother’s stories of Br’er Rabbit and King Arthur. When she becomes a librarian at the NYPL in Harlem in the 1940s, she begins her lifelong journey of finding and sharing wonderful Black stories for children.
What are your favorite stories to tell? What are your favorite stories to listen to? Today, we are going to make bookmark characters—perfect for reading stories, and for sharing stories!
Supplies
- Download and print the bookmarks template
- Something to color with: markers, crayons, pencils, pastels, or a cool combo
- Scissors
- Glue stick
* A note on supplies: If you don’t have exactly the supplies listed, improvise! These projects are designed to be versatile, so feel free to use whatever materials and tools you have at home. And if your final product looks different than what you see here, that’s wonderful.
STEP 1: Character Design
Use your coloring materials to create two characters. Augusta Baker wanted children to see themselves represented in stories. Can you make a character that looks like you?
You can also invent a character! Try to make someone different from you. How might they look? Are they a soccer player? A mermaid? What is their name?
STEP 2: Cutting
It’s careful cutting o’clock! Use your scissors to cut out the tops and bottoms of each of your bookmark characters.
STEP 3: Gluing
Use your glue stick to put them together. Spread glue over the bottom of your bookmark character’s head and body. Make sure not to put glue on the arms! Like this:
Then press it onto your character’s legs!
STEP 4: Story
On the back of your bookmarks you can write about your characters. How old are they? What foods do they like? Do they have superpowers? Where do they live? What happens when your two characters meet?
STEP 5: Bookmarks!
Now you can use your bookmarks in your favorite book! Tuck the arms of your character over the page to save your place.
Try reading your book aloud to a friend. Or acting a story out with your bookmark characters. As Augusta Baker says, “go forth and tell!”
Thanks for following along, everyone. We’d love to see your artwork - join the conversation and tag us on social media @nyhistory!
And thank you, Augusta!
Digital Collections, University of South Carolina Libraries
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