Making Puppets Come Alive: How to Learn and Teach Hand Puppetry (Dover Craft Books) [Paperback]

Larry Engler (Author), Carol Fijan (Author)

Book Description

Series: Dover Craft Books | Publication Date: January 23, 1997

Lucid, easy-to-follow book teaches beginners how to create a full working range of puppet motions and emotions. Also covers elements of good puppet theatrical technique: voice use and synchronization, stage deportment and interactions, improvisation, simple staging, lighting effects, and more. All clearly explained and beautifully illustrated.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (January 23, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486293785
• ISBN-13: 978-0486293783
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #549,489 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Puppets are actors!, June 27, 2000

By 

Simone Shapiro (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Making Puppets Come Alive: How to Learn and Teach Hand Puppetry (Dover Craft Books) (Paperback)

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!

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Making Puppets Come Alive, June 20, 2001

By 

Steve Petra (NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Making Puppets Come Alive: How to Learn and Teach Hand Puppetry (Dover Craft Books) (Paperback)

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.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Making Puppets Come Alive, July 30, 2008

By 

Eva Watson (Arizona) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Making Puppets Come Alive: How to Learn and Teach Hand Puppetry (Dover Craft Books) (Paperback)

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.