by Lisa Hiton
After accounting for the year past, the new year gives us the chance to reflect on all the ambitions and resolutions we hope to bring forward into the new year. Every year, I hope to read more great books. And while reading logs and online catalogues such as Goodreads can help us keep track, they aren’t as fun as the grand reveal of making our own scratch-off book lists. With this year only just begun, it’s time to dream up this year’s Book Bucket List by creating your own book scratch off poster!
Materials Needed
You’ll need a few modest materials to make your own scratch-off book bucket list:
- dish soap
- acrylic paint
- a paintbrush
- paper/posterboard/cardstock
- one white crayon
- a glue stick
- images of your book covers (I made mine by hand, but I think it would look great to print out the covers too)
And eventually, you’ll need one coin to scratch off each book cover!
All you need for this project is dish soap, paint, one paintbrush, scissors, glue, a white crayon, and cardstock
Assembling Your Book List
I cut white index cards into even rectangles to make my book covers.
On each, I used a fine point pen to draw out the cover of the books I hope to read or reread this coming year.
Some books are new and some books are old favorites.
I glued each cover onto my larger poster.
This year I hope to read or reread the following amazing books: A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo, She Would Be King by Wayétu Moore, Number the Stars by Lois Lowry, Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín, Puddin’ by Julie Murphy, and Citizen by Claudia Rankine]
Making Your Scratch Off Poster
There are two key elements to making your scratch card.
First, cover each of your book covers with a THICK layer of white crayon. (**I was not diligent enough with this task in this version, the covers with a more even layer of crayon were perfect, while the ones I paid less attention to did streak a bit**)
Using a white crayon, heavily cover each of your illustrations. The idea is to create an additional wax layer over your drawing so that when you scratch the paint off later, your image is protected.
The next step is to create your scratchable coating.
Mix 2 teaspoons of paint with 1 teaspoon of dish soap. I recommend using a slightly lighter color than I did. I used midnight. I would recommend something in the gray/silver family.
Also, BE SURE YOU WAIT UNTIL THE PAINT IS ENTIRELY DRY before you scratch it off—otherwise the final product will look a little streaky.
Bookwarming Your Way
Now that you have a magnificent new book poster, find a place to display it.
As you work your way through your book list, scratch off each book cover to reveal a beautiful book lover’s poster which also marks your year in books.
Invite your book loving friends over to create posters too—this time next year you’ll be all the more prepared to swap reading recommendations and do it all again!
About Lisa
Lisa Hiton is an editorial associate at Write the World. She writes two series on our blog: The Write Place where she comments on life as a writer, and Reading like a Writer where she recommends books about writing in different genres. She’s also the interviews editor of Cosmonauts Avenue and the poetry editor of the Adroit Journal.
