Teeny Tiny

                These are teeny. Some say tiny. What they accomplish is clear: they celebrate a sweet, tiny DIY form of self-publishing. Amanda Laughtland offers instructions for how the casual observer can take a single sheet of paper and transform it into a book. Each one of these teeny tiny books is packed with a large amount of love and care. Pictures reminiscent of the 1940s and 1950s adorn the pages. This isn’t the first time I have seen Amanda use such imagery. I am a bit curious why she does it. The last time anybody bothered really conserving and using small scraps of paper was the 1950s. Back then, America did a better job of conservation, more out of an obligation to thrift than anything else. I wish we still had that dedication to thrift. As I go through these two teeny tiny books, I can’t help but feel a certain fondness for this nearly lost art. 

                Issue #13 is first. The numbering even makes me happy. Since Amanda is so kind, the title even states (Make Small Type LOOK BIG) through the use of thick, stylish glasses, reminiscent of the ones I wear each and every day. Laura-Marie Taylor goes over all the stupid things she’s done, most of which are charming, if not downright adorable. ‘In the Clutch of the Octopus’, Eric Dickey’s piece has a nice twist to it, proving the importance of friendship. ‘Bird’ by Heather Nagami has a sweet little phrase ‘flit-flapping’ which made me smile. Amanda Laughtland’s piece ‘In Communication’ discusses how bees communicate, even when we try to mess with their heads. I dream of a day without bee-related experiments, but I don’t know when that’ll bee. Mimi Allen goes into the ideas of hope behind the movie ‘Up’ and our desires to simply float away. The tiny chapbook ends with ‘The Sea’ a favorite of mine by Sandra Simmonds. Anything that celebrates a large body of water is alright with me. 

                Gilad Elborn has his own Teeny Tiny chapbook called ‘The Purchase Price’. The blurb on the back explains Gilad’s obsession with writing in any form or capacity. On rate my professors, students refer to him as an ‘awesome metalhead’. While I cannot claim to be a metal head, some of my closest friends are metal heads. So this little introduction is a warm welcome. 

                What is the book about? It deals with a professor who loves their students. No matter what time of night, she picks up the phone. She has a husband. The husband loves her. Together they live in some boring part of the United States, not near anything. Despite their location they care about each other and the people there. It is a short but sweet story, filled with interesting little details, and, of course, wonderful little pictures interjected into the text. 

                Books like these give me hope in self-publishing. It is good to know some people do this on such a teeny scale. Hope Amanda continues to put out this product. They are so small they fit into a little Christmas card and for a moment, made me wish they were money. But Teeny Tiny is better than money. It is literature.