AGES:  Prereaders, beginning readers, older readers

MATERIALS:  Paper (stationery that has some rag content is nicest), scissors, ruler, fine-line markers, rubber cement

To make a bookplate, your child first cuts down a piece of paper to about file-card size, or a little squarer.  Next your child decides on some wording:  "This book belongs to Sarah Elizabeth Franklin," "From the Bradford Family Library," "For Pearl Wong:  Friends and books are forever," or some other appropriate line that identifies the owner of the book and perhaps expresses some sentiment.  An older child might enjoy making up a book riddle, a popular convention on medieval bookplates.

After printing the words carefully, your child illustrates the plate with a fanciful border, geometric design, a favorite book character, or even a tracing of an illustration from the book itself.  Go to the trouble of purchasing rubber cement for gluing the plate to the inside front cover of the book; other glues and pastes don't apply as evenly and some crack over time.  Rubber cement will also allow your child to reposition a plate, and to peel off smears.