The Paper Door · Sprout · ages 6-8
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Read by an AI-generated voice. The words on this page are the transcript.
The Carpenter's Hat
The hammer rang once. A spark jumped off the anvil and did not go out. It waited. They followed.
It led Lan and Inkling to the print shop. Kami the paper square lay on the table.
They folded Kami in half. They folded two corners down into a little roof. The last crease went flat, and the paper opened like a door.
They were in a dusty printing room. A girl called Nell held a long sheet of newspaper.
"Dad's ink flies into his hair," said Nell. "He forgot his paper cap. Tomorrow is the big day."
"I'll make it square!" said Lan. She grabbed the scissors.
"Look where the line stops," said Mark. "That hat has no cut. Read the drawing first."
A picture hung on the wall. A carpenter wore a paper hat. Mark read it. "Two corners make the roof. Use the long sheet."
"Edge to edge, exactly," said Cornelia. One fold. Then one corner down to the middle. Then the other.
Nell's second corner went too far. The roof leaned.
"Smooth it out and try again," said Crinkle. "The crease remembers." The corners met. The roof stood up straight.
"Now press it flat," said Presso. One brim up in front. One brim up behind. Five folds. It was a hat!
"I'm still one piece of paper," said Kami. "Even when I'm not a square."
Nell's dad wore it all afternoon. Inkling checked. Ink on the brim, not in his hair.
They unfolded the paper flat, and the door closed behind them.
The spark dimmed to a warm dot and settled back on the anvil. The Green was just the Green again.
Back on the Green
Lan folded a hat from a long sheet, with no cutting.
Tell the story back to someone. Why didn't Nell cut the newspaper square?
Who you met
-
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
- In Lewis Carroll's book Through the Looking-Glass, which came out in London at the end of 1871, John Tenniel's picture shows the Carpenter wearing a folded paper hat. Source
- Printers, carpenters, masons and painters wore folded paper hats. Printers wore them to keep ink out of their hair, and could fold a new one when a hat got inky. Source
- The box-shaped printer's hat starts as the simple pointed newspaper hat, folded a few more times. Some workmen's hats were folded from a square, and some from a longer sheet. Source
- Tenniel's pictures were drawn on wood and cut by engravers, the Dalziel brothers, so they could be printed in the book. Source
- The paper hat takes five folds: one in half, two corners down to the middle, and two brims up, one in front and one behind.
Stretched
- In our story the picture of the Carpenter hangs on the wall of a printing room the day before the big printing. What we simplified: We do not know which room printed the proofs, or on which day. Mr Tenniel himself never comes into our story.
- In our story the carpenter's hat is a simple pointed hat. What we simplified: The hat in Tenniel's picture is the box-shaped kind. We kept the simple first part, the newspaper hat, which is where the box hat starts.
Made up
- Nell, her father and the paper door are made up. Kami, Mark, Cornelia, Presso and Crinkle are our own characters.