I know that more and more parents are buying books for their children and making time for reading together. An additional activity that can promote family literacy is making pop-up books and pop-up cards together.

As well as being an author of pop-up books, I am a half-time teacher of a Grade 3 class in Canada. This year, the mother of a student told me that her daughter was very excited because she had "The Pop-up Lady" as her teacher.

Indeed, I do many pop-ups with my students. The activities created in my classroom could easily be done at home. My students make pop-up cards for almost all holidays. The pop-up card on my Web site can be adapted to become a scary monster for Halloween or a bird surrounded by hearts for Valentine's Day. Pop-up ideas can be used for birthday cards, get-well cards, and thank-you cards.

Making pop-ups is also a fun way for children to learn new forms of writing. After making the pop-up mouth, why not add a speech bubble and insert a poem, joke, or riddle?

At the end of the school-year, I always instruct my students on how to make their own pop-up books. The children write a short story and then break it into five sections. They create a pop-up page for each section of their story. The completed pages are glued together, and a simple cover is added to create a book. The children are very proud of their pop-up books and love reading them to their families and friends.

Have fun with creating the pop-up card on my Web site. For more information on my books, please go to:

http://www.makersgallery.com/joanirvine/