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How
to Do Cat's Cradle This all started with a story about an
American girl who goes to |
A spunky American girl moves to England
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The hardcover is in lots of libraries
and some bookstores. |
The paperback is now in bookstores . |
How
to Do Cat's Cradle
In cat's cradle, two people make shapes
with string and pass them back and forth. Lots of people know the FIRST one
(the Cat's Cradle) -- but there are lots more: the Manger, Candles, the Cat's
Eye, and Diamonds....it goes on and on. To do it, you
need:
• two people
• a piece of string tied at the ends to make a circle
In the directions, “you” is the first
person and “she” is the second person. You and she take turns:
when it's HER turn, the directions will switch sides.
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1. You put your hands through the string. Keep your thumb out of it |
2.  |
2. Then you loop the string around each hand. Keep your thumb out of the loop. |
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3. Put the middle finger of one hand through the loop on the other hand and pull. |
4.  |
4. Put the middle finger of the OTHER hand through the loop. This is "the Cat's Cradle." Now comes the first hard thing. Find the two places where the string makes an X. |
| 5. She takes her thumb and forefinger and pinches those X shaped parts. |  |
| 6. Still pinching them, she moves her hands farther apart, until the string is taut. |  |
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7. This is hard, too,so there are two pictures--
b) scoops them up through the middle -- and pulls, very gently. As she does the last part, you should let the cat's cradle slide out of YOUR hands. |
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| 8. She ends up with cat's cradle on HER hands. |  |
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The book about the American girl at the English boarding school--
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"This
tale of a young girl's voyage to England and the total difference in life
styles is fascinating......Libby's joyous times at Sibton Park make you
laugh out loud and her funny of view is great. ...." -- 8th grader writing in Just Books.
"Imagine going home
after a fun day of play, and finding out you are moving to England for
six months. First, you are excited. After all, who wouldn't want to go
to a foreign country? Then,you suddenly realize that you will have to
leave all your friends and familiar places. This is exactly what happened
to Libby Koponen....." (the
rest of this review is at the bottom of the page....first, more cat's
cradle steps.) |
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9. Now YOU pinch the X s from the top, not the sides. |
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10. Keep pinching the X s and pull your hands apart. |
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11. Keep hold of the X s and push your fingers towards the middle |
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12. Pull your fingers up through the middle and then pull your hands apart.
Now you have what we called Tramlines and some people call Candles. |
| 13. She uses the little fingers of the opposite hands -- that is, with her right little finger, she pulls the left top string way over to the right, way beyond the outside strings. |  |
| 14. With the left little finger, she pulls the right top string to the left. Now there are two little triangles. |  |
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15. Holding the ends of the triangles tightly in her little fingers (that's the hardest part!), she turns her hands and goes under with her thumb and forefinger.
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| 16. Then, still holding on tightly with her little fingers, she pushes her thumbs and forefingers up through the middle. |  |
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17. Still holding onto the bottom string tightly with her little fingers, she spreads her thumbs and her index fingers while you let go.....and she's made The Manger!
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18. Pinch the Xs with your thumb and forefinger. |
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19. Still pinching the Xs, pull them out. |
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20. Now, pull the Xs up a little and then --
(we didn't get a picture of this part) -- turn your hands over and pinching tightly, pointing your thumb and forefinger down, dive down into the middle. |
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21. Spread your thumb and forefinger apart, still pointing down, and you have diamonds. |
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Rachel, Cate, and Kate did the cat's cradle moves here. It was Rachel and Cate's idea to write "purrfect" and to put the cat's faces at the bottom of the exclamation points. They wrote this note to you: and if you didn't do it purrfectly, don't worry. It takes practice. If you draw or photograph the missing picture between steps 20 and 21 (the hands diving down), please email it -- and any other moves, too! Libby.koponen@gmail.com or Libby@ifyoulovetoread.com
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I learned to do cat's cradle when I went to an English boarding school. I wrote a story about that, and so many girls emailed me saying they loved the story that it was published as a real book.
You
can get the book that started it all, Blow Out the Moon, If you don't see it in a bookstore, please ask them to get it! If you DO see it, PLEASE TURN IT FACE OUT SO OTHER PEOPLE WILL SEE IT AND BUY IT. Thank you.
The paperback is coming out in May. You can get the hardcover now at your library, a bookstore, or order it from barnesandnoble, amazon. If your bookstore or library doesn't have it, they can order it for you. --Libby (the author) Go
back
to the list of chapters from Blow Out the Moon and stories
This picture is from the fairy tale "East of the Sun and West of the Moon." One more girl's review of Blow Out the Moon: "This tale of a young girl's voyage to England and the total difference in life styles is fascinating. Libby doesn't want to move to England, she wants to stay with her friends, especially with Henry. Libby is fascinated by the long boat ride, but when she reaches England Libby isn't happy. She longs for the sunshine and her American life. The people at school aren't nice and Libby wants to leave, until she finds Sibton Park, an English boarding school for girls, and one boy. It offers horseback riding lessons, and to Libby's horror, table manners. Libby's joyous times at Sibton Park make you laugh out loud and her funny point of view is great. Sibton Park comes alive as you read this interesting, funny story of Libby Koponen's childhood." -- eighth grader writing in Just Books.
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A GIRL'S REVIEW: Imagine
going home after a fun day of play, and finding out you are moving to
England for six months. First, you are excited. After all, who wouldn't
want to go to a foreign country? Then,you suddenly realize that you will
have to leave all your friends and familiar places. This is exactly what
happened to Libby Koponen. In
BLOW OUT THE MOON, she recalls the years of her life when she lived in
England. At first,Libby is very excited about going to England, but when
she actually arrives, she is very BLOW
OUT THE MOON shows that change can be good, and it explains that freedom
is not just a word; it is being able to think and feel how you want to.
Another cool thing about it is Libby Koponen puts in some real pictures
of ".....the kids there pick on her so Libby decides to try and find a boarding school. She did. At her boarding school her room mates are very nice to her. They all get along and have fun together. For example, one night they stayed up until midnight and had a tea party. You have to read the book to find out if Libby decides to stay in London or move back! This book was awesome! It never got boring! I never wanted to put it
down. It was very interesting, and I would rate it a perfect 10!!"
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There and Back Again (memoir), Blow Out the Moon (novel), and ifyoulovetoread.com copyright © 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004 Libby Koponen. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the author. To anyone who went to Sibton Park: I had to take the rest of the chapters down -- but I will be happy to email the Sibton Park chapters to you if you would like to see them. You can also buy the book from Amazon on all of its international sites, including the UK's. |
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