Origami Myths & Legends
Grade 6 Up -More promising in theme than in execution, this gathering of step diagrams for 15 paper monsters, creatures, and deities contains a few sparklers, but will most likely leave even veteran paper folders dissatisfied. Nguyen is a prolific and inventive designer, but his models tend to be abstract, hard to identify without a label-and that's nowhere more true than here. Despite artfully posed color photos of finished models, the Cyclops, mermaid, sphinx, centaur, and several others are just jumbles of tiny pleats and reverse folds. Also, though the three-headed Cerberus and an eight-headed hydra have nicely menacing looks, both require a lot of very small, precise folds and scissors cuts. The diagrams and text directions are, overall, clear and exact, except that Nguyen is vague about just how and where to apply glue. Also, the few skimpy sentences at the end on the mythological nature of each figure and a truly pointless index seem tacked on as afterthoughts. Origamists willing to take on the challenge will find a particularly graceful unicorn and a well-posed, multiarmed, dancing Shiva here, but on the whole this title is a supplementary purchase, even for deeper collections.-John Peters, New York Public LibraryCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.