Puppets Around the World by Gina Nuttall

This is a simple but informative book about puppets from around the world. It is a great introduction to puppets and the text is accompanied with large, colourful photographs of the different types of puppets. There is information on marionette puppets in China, the famous French puppet Guignol, shadow puppets from Indonesia, bunraku which is a type of puppet show in Japan, Punch and Judy the seaside puppet shows in Britain. In Vietnam some puppet shows are performed on water and the puppets need to be waterproof. Another section deals with Charlie, the famous dummy from the US and talks about ventriloquism. The final section is an instructional text on how to make your own felt finger puppet. There is a short glossary in the back of the book as well as a simple index.

Puppet Mania by John Kennedy

This book is full of the most amazing ideas about puppetry that I haven't seen before. Some of the puppets could be made with very little expense and with limited resources such as the Coaster Creature, whilst others like the Running Rabbi,t are quite elaborate. It's going to be a very handy book for me as I am planning an animation unit and a puppetry unit this year. The Bottle Bugs made from bottles and a glove are amazing and don't appear to be overly fussy. There's a really interesting chapter on how to convert an old bear into a puppet which I will definitely be looking into. Overall, this is a very creative book with designs requiring varying levels of skill.