Basic Book Design – High school textbook from Wikibooks

Basic Book Design is a textbook suitable for high school students (and adults) all about basic book design. The book is provided by Wikibooks, in the creative commons under a GNU open document license.

As a project for English, art or computer studies, creating a book should be a compulsory activity in schools. This book will help students learn more about the ins and outs of book creation.

For computer studies, students may wish to pick an existing public domain book and reformat the text. Picture books are the best for this since they bring different elements of formatting into play, and different formatting programs may be experimented with.

For English or art class, creating your own text is fun, along with formatting it.

Basic Book Design discusses important topics such as font choices, margin rules, common grammar and text formatting rules, most of which has been condensed and referenced from what is considered the industries’ master reference book, The Chicago Manual of Style.

More About What is in Basic book design for high school

Basic Book Design isn’t another book about grammar rules, freeing your inner writer, or finding a publisher. It’s about making your books, documents, and newsletters look professional.

The book includes features such as:
• Which fonts will make readers devour your book—and which fonts will make them put your book aside.
• Common mistakes that make your newsletter look amateur.
• Designers’ tricks to save printing costs and make documents look better.
• The free software that works better than Adobe Pagemaker, Quark X-Press, or Microsoft Publisher.
• Workarounds to avoid bugs in Microsoft Word.
• When you need permissions from both the photographer and the person depicted in the photo—and when you need neither.
• The government agency that will give you completely free photos by famous photographers such as Ansel Adams and Dorothea Lange.

Note: some software items, mostly those on Microsoft Word, are out of date, written in 2003, there have been significant updates since then (my recommendation, use Open Office 🙂

While some of the contents might be rather advanced for high school, it makes a great reference book and learning exercise, and many concepts can even be taught to younger audiences in upper elementary or middle grades.

Suggested projects for Basic Book Design

Format a public domain book;
Create your own short picture book using your own words, and either illustrate yourself, or public domain images;
Create a non-fiction book with images;
Send your book to FKB 🙂 – note, we don’t guarantee acceptance, but if it’s not suitable I’ll let you know why;
Publish your book online (Createspace, kindle, lulu).

Suggested Reading

Find many more books like this one, suitable for high school study or reference in our Wikibooks section.

When should kids start learning law? - Law is such a complex domain where you need to learn a lot of things and go through a lot of cases to say that you are an expert. Those who study and get an education at a law college could say that they know more than anyone else. The saddest thing about this is ...

The Pumpkin Deal - In this playful, surprising tale, a savvy young witch keeps her own interests in mind as she negotiates with a scarecrow who owns some pumpkins that the witch and her cronies want to carve on Halloween. A win-win deal depends on her finding out what the reticent pumpkin really wants in exchange. Based on grownup, win-win research! Stimulating ...

I Am Strong, I Am Courageous, I Am Girl – Self help book for growing your confidence - As Long As I Stay Positive I Can Achieve Great Things! This little eBook features the character Abazora of the Azpazaz Bunch. This is a story with positive affirmations to remind you to be strong and courageous. Never let anyone tell you anything you want is impossible. Read this little book out loud to yourself ...

Using Book Characters to Guide Your Child in Their Future - Establishing positive role models is really important in children for their development. The people they look up to, both in real life and through books and TV, will likely form the foundations for who and what they want to be when they grow up. The possibilities for children are endless and there are so many ...

Lion Queen – An iPop! adaption of three bears - Lion Queen is a super adaption of the classic tale of three bears. IPop! Labs include whimsical phrases and cute characters with a twist at the end to make this a fun rendition of the favourite tale. Sample Page from Lion Queen Read the full book by selecting one of the buttons below the post. ...

14 Key Skills and Qualities of an Amazing Children’s Nurse - Nurses have one of the most important jobs in the world. They look after people of all ages from all walks of life, with the goal of helping to make their lives better. Children’s nurses have a unique set of challenges to deal with, while also getting a unique sense of job satisfaction. Whether you’re ...

Eco Stories Competition - Eco Stories has another awesome competition, this time it is open to under 18’s You can see information here: http://www.greenstories.org.uk/upcoming-competitions/short-stories-competition-for-under-18s-deadline-march-2022/ Deadline March 2022, and prize money 200GBP. Kids get writing! Spread the love

Homework and Study Habits: Tips for Kids and Teenagers - Studying at home is a struggle for most students. With objects of their interest within reach, it becomes difficult to concentrate on textbooks that may bore them thoroughly. But that doesn’t mean studying at home isn’t possible. It is possible and also quite important! Children need to revise what they learn at school to develop ...

Punctuate My House – About punctuation - In Punctuate My House, we learn all about the common punctuation marks. Full stop, Question Mark, Exclamation Mark, Comma, and Quotations are all characters Jordan meets around his house, and each one explains a little about what they do in a sentence. This book was written by children for children. Sample Text from Punctuate My ...

How Reading More Can Improve Your Writing Skills - If you want to become an amazing writer, you need to put in the time and effort to master your craft. One of the best ways to do this is by reading more. Writers who possess strong reading habits can hone their skills with each book that they read. When you read actively, you will ...

Review our Young Adults section for books in a similar age range.