Making Puppets Come Alive: How To Learn And Teach Hand Puppetry (Dover Craft Books)

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Unlike other performing arts, puppetry is perhaps the only art form in which directing, acting, writing, designing, sculpture, and choreography are combined. In effect, the performer is creating an artistic entertainment that will appeal to audiences of all ages — in homes, in theaters, and in classrooms.This lucid, easy-to-follow book was specifically conceived to teach beginners how to bring a hand puppet to life and how, with practice, to develop the skills needed to mount an amateur puppet show — complete with staging, costumes, and special effects. Award-winning puppeteers Larry Engler and Carol Fijan provide ingenious finger, wrist, and arm exercises that are crucial for creating a full working range of puppet motions and emotions. They also cover the elements of good puppet theatrical technique: speech, voice use, and synchronization; stage deportment and interactions; improvisation, dramatic conflict, role characterization, and more.Every detail is clearly explained and beautifully illustrated with photographs, specific chapters being devoted to the use of props, puppet voices and movements, the construction of simple stages and lighting effects, and much more. A splendid addition to the literature on this subject, Making Puppets Come Alive is "the best book on hand puppetry we've seen." — The Whole Kids Catalog.

Series: Dover Craft Books

Paperback: 192 pages

Publisher: Dover Publications (January 23, 1997)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0486293785

ISBN-13: 978-0486293783

Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 0.5 x 8.9 inches

Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)

Best Sellers Rank: #326,273 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #15 in Books > Arts & Photography > Performing Arts > Theater > Puppets & Puppetry #23 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Crafts & Hobbies > Puppets & Puppetry #170 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Crafts & Hobbies > Toys & Models > Models

This is a great book for people who want to teach classes on how to work with hand puppets or want to improve their own puppetry skills. The focus is on hands-on manipulation of the puppets. (I am going to use it as the basis of a workshop with a theatrical group.)It gives an overall curriculum, well illustrated and explained, for making your puppets come alive. For example, it breaks the movements down into finger, wrist, and arm movements. It gives exercises for creating puppet voices, working with props, and improvisation.I've been looking for a book like this: so many of them are just about making the puppets, or the overall setup of a puppet theater. This may be a one-of-a-kind. Puppets are actors, and this book is a great actor's manual!

What lies beneath this simply drawn cover is a comprehensive hand puppetry textbook that is as interesting and accessible as it is theatrically sound. I first discovered this gem in my local library and began to study and apply it's exercises. Plenty of photographs to serve as illustrations of movements that are performed by the puppeteer's fingers, wrists and arms. The results are an aquired vocabulary of movements and techniques that allow even a simple hand puppet to portray age, mood, intent, emotion and energy as well as perform a range of tasks that can deliver a real character to an audience. Simple enough for kids to learn and great for group intruction. I am currently working on a TV and video project and have purchased an extra copy to bring to the studio as a reference allowing me to expand the range of expression with the puppets used in the production."Making Puppets Come Alive" delivers a superb explanation of one of the best (if not the best) hand puppet manipulation systems in puppet theatre. Plenty of photos to guide and clear text.

This is an excellent book for the novice as well for the experienced puppetier. It is simple, visual and is an excellent tool for teaching. I whole heartily recommend it for the student and the teacher.

Step by step visual instructions for bringing puppets to life. The photographs are clear and the technique logical.Other puppet books can bring you patterns, skits, or stages; this one brings you the main course-----puppet manipulation!

This book was a welcome surprise to me just starting in learning about puppets.Gave directions to actually make the puppets perform with emotion to developthe story line, just as human actors do onstage. Helps to know this going in.

Clearly, and step by step this wonderful book show you how to make puppets come alive in your hands.Parents, teachers as well as anyone with an interest in theater will learn a lot from this book, and quickly. You will be able to teach children how to express action, emotion and humor quickly. For children of 4th grade and up, you can just give them the book, and a few sock puppets, and they'll be off!

This is a very interesting book! I have started a puppet ministry at church and this book is very helpful teaching my puppeteers how to make the puppets move realistically. Thanks alot!

I make puppets myself and want to learn more how to make them come alive. As I live abroad I was impatient to start reading the book. As it finally arrived and read it I can only say how disappointed I was at the low level of ideas that are described in the first 120 p of the book. I guess nothing 'new' only logical. Pity. I don't enjoy writing a negative review. I only wish it had given me 'more'.

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