The Wondrous Toy Workshop

MBR Bookwatch, May, 2008 by Michael Dunford

The Wondrous Toy Workshop

Nancy B. Miller

Syren Book Company

5120 Cedar Lake Road, Minneapolis, MN 55416

9780929636825, $15.95 www.syrenbooks.com 1-800-901-3480

Every recorded human civilization has had the concept of toys for the amusement, education, and training of their children. Prior to the rise of the industrial age, most toys were handmade by parents and kinfolk for their youngsters. "The Wondrous Toy Workshop: Hanni's Inspiring Life And Her Toys Anyone Can Make" by writer and painter Nancy B. Miller is the story of Hanni Sager, a woman who has been severely disabled by muscular dystrophy in Oaxaca, Mexico. Hanni's disability inspired her to reach out to disabled and disadvantaged children in her community through founding four extraordinary toy-making workshops. This provided Hanni with a purpose and life-enhancing joy. Her story provides the rest of us with an inspired and inspiring account of how a single person can do enduring good for so many others. Not just a superbly written biography of a most remarkable woman, "The Wondrous Toy Workshop" also provides the reader with a 'user friendly', step-by-step manual for setting up toy-making workshops. Enhanced with patterns and simple instructions for making twelve charming pulstring style toys, as well as full-color photographs of children with the toys, "The Wondrous Toy Workshop" is a unique and enthusiastically recommended addition to personal and community library Crafts & Hobbies reference collections and supplemental reading lists.