Wreck This Journal: To Create is to Destroy, Now With Even More Ways to Wreck!
£9.10£10.40 (-13%)
A new edition of Keri Smith’s bestseller, with updated material
Think of Wreck This Journal as the anarchist’s Artist’s Way — the book for those who’ve always wanted to draw outside the lines but were afraid to do it.
For anyone who’s ever wished to, but had trouble starting, keeping, or finishing a journal or sketchbook comes Wreck This Journal, an illustrated book featuring a subversive collection of suggestions, asking readers to muster up their best mistake – and mess-making abilities to fill the pages of the book (and destroy them).
Through a series of creatively and quirkily illustrated prompts, acclaimed artist Keri Smith encourages journalers to engage in “destructive” acts – poking holes through pages, adding photos and defacing them, painting with coffee, colouring outside the lines, and more – in order to experience the true creative process. With Keri Smith’s unique sensibility, readers are introduced to a new way of art and journal making, discovering novel ways to escape the fear of the blank page and fully engage in the creative process.
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Additional information
| Publisher | Penguin, 1st edition (22 April 2013) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 224 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 0141976144 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0141976143 |
| Reading age | 9+ years, from customers |
| Dimensions | 12.9 x 1.5 x 19.8 cm |
by I love this book! But some stuff said chew this page and I don’t understand why u would chew it?? But it can also have germs on it..
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I love this book because you can do it when your bored. There is also a page for when your angry ????. There’s so much fun stuff do to in the book but… There is a chew page and u can get germs on your mouth if you have to chew the page. But I love it
by nicola
Brought this as a present for a 9 year old! She loved it. I can see why as it had activities to help wreck the book BUT I found it quite disturbing to wreck a book!! What a waste! I wouldn’t buy again and some of the things to do in the book are very messy!!!
by Leela Bates
So good, very good spend of money
by Missy B
Bought as a gift and it arrived damaged. Went through the book and I wasn’t impressed. Bought as a gift and my 10 year old thought it her friend wouldn’t appreciate it.
by sarah-louise Hall
Brought for my 10 year old who’s always bored so now when she’s bored I tell her to do her journal, it’s so fun and can be interpreted in lots of ways. I Like it so much I’ve brought one for myself so we can compare our ideas. Definitely going to get the rest of the books in the series.
by Hayley Ellis
Our son was given one of these for his 7th birthday and enjoyed it so much! Great for rainy day activities and for encouraging getting out and about. Have purchased several for his friends’ birthdays. Great gift!
by dmcnabb
I purchased this book along with Mess by Keri Smith on recommendation from a friend who had several of her books. I have been struggling for some time with obsessive compulsive disorder, but in the sense of organization and perfection. I have accepted its a bit of a problem and would like to feel more comfortable about life’s imperfections. My friend is a psychology student and suggested it as a way to intentionally force myself to create something that really isn’t perfect.
I had a good look through the book, cringing a bit at some of the things It was asking me to do. (cut through the book, stick gum or glue in it, draw lines and smear them etc etc). You dont have do to the book in any particular order, but I started on the first page, which was putting your name in it. It asks you to write your name in white, illegibly, in tiny letters, backwards, faintly and in large letters, which I did. After several random pages (feeling well good about myself how neat it still was) I showed it to my friend, who turned it to a page directing that I allow someone to do something destructive to the book (and not look). When I opened my eyes, my friend had dunked the side of the book in black coffee!!! Needless to say, I was not impressed.
After some discussion about it, I started to look at it differently. If I could obsessively destroy the book as instructed, I could learn to love something for its imperfections. One thing my friend suggested to me is keeping it for my son for when hes older, as there are little things I have collected in it, my thoughts and even unfinished, I feel is an accurate depiction of my personality, rather than little quirks I have of wanting to be neat and tidy, which is something my son sees everyday. It is something I have let me see and see me do, so that he knows that I am working to be less obsessive about cleanliness and a bit more spontaneous. Ive allowed him to help me, but have explained to him that we only write in this book!
Even if you don’g have some sort of obsession with being neat and tidy, I think the book is quite fun. I reckon it would be great to take on holiday (although depending on where you go and live it could get taken away in customs as you’re supposed to put dirt and leaves and flowers and such in it!) The book is now a permanent fixture in my handbag, and rather than doing what is all too common nowadays looking around on a train or bus with people on their phones, I pull out a book, and write in it or draw in it! A few people have asked about it and I have happily spread the good word.
My only real comment about the book is that having purchased mess at the same time, I would say that this book is far more about total destruction but Mess focuses on some artistic techniques and I think is a bit more educational (it asks you to reference people, places, things, etc) although some of the pages in Mess are exactly the same as Wreck this Journal.
While some would argue looking at this book that they could write this book – I would say well yes, but Keri Smith actually did and it may not have taken a long time to write it or to come up with the concepts, but I think time was taken in working out the best ways to destroy a book inside of it. Originality in today’s world is a hard thing to come by. Anybody could do anything realistically if they put their mind to it and worked hard, but sometimes the simpler successes are the harder ones to identify yourself, and Keri Smith got the simple attractiveness of this book just right.
I would recommend this book to pretty much anyone. It is particularly fun to do with kids. Its a good laugh and a nice way to occupy time, in comparison to constantly pulling out your phone and messing around with games or the internet. It is a sort of project and takes time, but is definitely an interesting way to spend the time.
by Isla
Fun. I enjoyed the book however you need extra stuff to do some of the pages which is annoying