You may have read my fairly recent post about the adorable book, The Most Magnificent Thing, by Ashley Spires. This is a fantabulous book to read to your students to foster a Growth Mindset. And, it ties in super well with my students’ current participation in the Global Cardboard Challenge.
I was looking for some other activities to tie in with the book, and came across an interesting slideshow of pictures of an event that was hosted at the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum during which participants “hacked” the book. They were given copies of the book and tons of craft material, and told to make what they wanted!
Despite the part of me that abhors destruction of any book, I love this idea. If any book was made for a book hack, then this one is! And I am so impressed by the amazing ideas dreamed up by the children.

You should also see the book hack that the famous “Property Brothers” of HGTV did of the book. If I can believe my aging eyes, it looks like they used Little Bits to make their very cool hack! (This link takes you to the Facebook video of their hack, so you may not be able to view it at school.)
And, of course, a book hack would not be complete if the author did not participate! Ashley Spires did her own amazing hack, and you can watch the embedded video below.
This entire concept combines two of my favorite topics in education right now for which you can find even more resources on my Pinterest Boards – Maker Education and Growth Mindset. Some other great picture books that I’ve featured that support these themes are Rosie Revere, Engineer and Beautiful Oops.
Hi Terri
I love this but like you I would struggle to do a book hack myself. I am devastated when I accidently damage a book!
I would also like to thank you for your posts about the Global Cardboard Challenge. You inspired me to participate with my class and they are loving the experience.
Caroline (Australia)
That is so exciting! What grade level?