I remember my younger days, sitting on the floor of our living room in Brooklyn. I can still picture myself, long hair, legs sprawled out, surrounded by paper and scissors. I loved creating things. I didn’t have much, but with paper, scissors, and crayons, I had everything I needed. I could create anything I wanted—a story, a picture, or paper dolls. I always cherished an empty sheet of paper or a sketchbook, and my mom always made sure I had one to fill.

Like every other child I’ve ever known, I adored tiny things—little pieces of paper, little pencils, and little books. I was especially fond of the tiny matchbooks my father used to light his cigarettes. 

This past Valentine’s Day, I wanted to give the children I work with at preschool a special little gift. It was a last-minute idea, I usually have plenty of small trinkets or leftover party supplies from my own kids, but this time, I didn’t have enough of anything. So, I sat down near all my art supplies and asked myself, “What do I have a lot of?” It was clear that I had a lot of paper! 

I had white paper, colored paper, and pretty printed paper, so I decided to make the children little tiny doodle books. I took several sheets of white paper—about three or four stacks—cut them into four strips, and then cut the strips in half. I stacked five to six sheets together and folded them into a little book. I did the same thing with the decorated paper to create covers, then stapled everything together. I even used my label printer to create a little blurb for the back.

In total, I made 18 little books! I hope the children were delighted with them.