D.I.Y. Dollhouse

This how-to book on building a dollhouse encourages “recycling, reusing garbage, and repurposing disposable products” in the name of having inexpensive fun. Henrion, an illustrator based in Hamburg, Germany, teaches readers by way of example, constructing a makeshift dollhouse by stacking six fruit crates on top of one another. Each crate serves as a room: there’s a living room, three bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a patio. The rooms are decorated with colorful wallpaper and elaborate miniature home decor made from scraps around the house. The book showcases each room in colorful photographs and provides instructions for how to build key pieces of furniture. In the living room, Henrion creates a coffee table out of a yogurt container, with the neck of a plastic juice bottle serving as its pedestal. A box that once held tea becomes a davenport. For the bathroom, a single-serving cream container painted and flipped becomes the basin of the toilet. Henrion’s patterns for cutouts are easily traceable and the projects require basic tools like glue and an X-Acto knife. Oddly, the directions are written for children (“Ask your parents,” she writes regarding selecting trash for use), yet the level detail and the sophistication of the projects are better suited for adults. Color photos. (Oct.)