The Paper Door · ages 6-8

The Paper Machine

The idea: a fold is a machine — the folds decide how the paper moves.

Lan and Inkling step out of a paper door onto a grassy hill on Tanegashima in 1995. Inkling holds Kami. A boy, Ken, and his little sister Emi sit on a picnic blanket, and far away a white rocket stands by the sea.

Read it

Sprout 293 words Grower 953 words · 8 chapters Reader 3600 words · 11 chapters

One story, three ways: Sprout for a new reader, Grower in short chapters, Reader as a full chapter book. Same plot, same ending.

Who is in this book

Kami Paper becomes a new shape with every fold, and it only cuts where it is told from CreaseTots
Lan a child of the Green Goes first; makes a friend in a minute
Mark The lines tell you what to do — dashes fold, solid lines cut from CreasePals
Cornelia Bring one corner to meet the other corner, exactly from CreaseTots
Crinkle Smooth a crooked fold out and try again; the crease remembers from CreaseTots
Presso Hold the paper still and press the fold flat so it stays from CreaseTots
Inkling a child of the Green Names what she notices

Every recurring character has a short tune, so you can tell who is on stage before a word is said. The tunes play only when you tap, and the Reading Access sound switch turns them off.

The Honest Page

Which parts of this story are true, stretched or made up?

True

On 18 March 1995, a Japanese H-II rocket launched a satellite called the Space Flyer Unit from Tanegashima Space Center, on an island in the south of Japan. Source
The satellite carried a large flat panel, the 2D Array, folded with the Miura fold. In space it opened out to show that big structures can be built there. Source
The Miura fold is named after the Japanese scientist Koryo Miura. A Miura-folded sheet opens in one movement when you pull its ends, and closes when you push them together. Source
In January 1996 a space shuttle, Endeavour, caught the satellite and brought it back to Earth. Source
A fortune teller takes four corners to the middle, then the paper is turned over and four more go to the middle: eight flaps.

Stretched

The woman in the blue jacket in our story, and her folded square, are only there to show the idea. What we simplified: We do not know who watched the launch, or whether anyone on the hill had a folded model. The fold she shows is a real Miura fold.
In our story the fortune teller is the paper machine, not the Miura fold itself. What we simplified: The Miura fold is hard for small hands, so the children fold a fortune teller, which shows the same idea: the folds decide how the paper moves.

Made up

Ken, Emi and the paper door are made up. Kami, Mark, Cornelia, Presso and Crinkle are our own characters.

Tell it back

Tell the story in your own words: who was there, what went wrong, and what they found out. Then a paper fortune teller that opens and closes in your fingers goes on your belt.

Ring the hammer for someone

Pick this book for someone younger. The link carries only the book, and it will wait for them on the Green.

Across the Table → For the grown-up: the story in three lines, one question to ask, and one thing to do together.