How to Make Your Book Into the Monster Book of Monsters From Harry Potter

For my U.S history class, our teacher gave us our textbooks, and said that we had to make a cover for them to protect them, and that we’d hold a competition to see who had the best textbook cover. Well, I had the great idea to turn my textbook into the Monster Book of Monsters from Harry Potter. I did it all by myself, with no instructions! If you don’t know what that is, it’s a book about monsters in the Harry Potter Universe that looks like an actual furry monster, and comes alive. The book was a big hit! I got a lot of compliments on it, and I won the contest! So, I thought that I’d do a how-to on how to make your textbook (or any book) into a monster book of monsters. It can just be for the aesthetic, but my monster book of monsters is fully functional as an actual book. I got all the materials at Michael’s, the art crafting store, but I’ll also post links to the online versions, in case you don’t have one in your area. Whether you want to use it for a cool party shocker, or a tactile sensory thing, here’s the full, in-depth guide on how to turn a book into the monster book of monsters.

Here’s a picture of the monster book of monsters from Harry Potter World:

From the Harry Potter Wikia

Here’s a picture of mine:

Pretty good, right? Try to make it your own, if you make it!

Materials & What They’re For: 

• 4 Pieces of Creatology Craft Fur– In total, 3 worked, but I’d suggest getting four pieces just in case something happens, or you want to add your own decorations. Click on the words above to go to the Michael’s page for it. It all depends on how big your book is.
• Scissors and Glue– Pretty easy stuff. For this, I used spray adhesive glue, and that worked the best.
• Paper Bag– Just a brown paper bag from Target or King Soopers, or Whole Foods will work.
• Vampire Teeth– These are to put on the front of the books as teeth. Your regular standard vampire teeth. They are out now because it’s near halloween, so you might not find them at Michael’s if you’re reading this during another season. Any pair of plain vampire teeth will work. The cool thing about mine were that they are glow in the dark, which is a fun little addition.
• Eyes – I found these cool blue eyes with wings at the Michael as part of their found item’s line. I checked the online store, and they didn’t seem to have them, so I would suggest going to the nearest Michaels and searching for them there. It was strange, actually: I asked an employee if they had any of the blue eye, because I’d used them for an earlier project, and they had said that they didn’t have them, but I knew that they did, so I went searching through the store and found them myself. You might just have to look for them yourself! But any eyes will always work, I would recommend larger ones.
• Spiders (optional)– I put little spiders with orange jewels all over mine, just for fun, but you don’t have to. You can put anything you want on it. But if you do want spiders, I took plastic spider rings and cut off the ring part, so I could just have the spider and it was easier to glue on. The closest I could find were some at Walmart, which are hyperlinked above.

Here’s the Elmer’s Glue we Used

1. Make a Book Cover out of A Paper Bag     

First off, unless you want to have the fur of the monster stuck to the actual cover of your book, you want to make a paper book cover to go over the book itself. For instance, when my school year is over, I’ll be able to peel the cover back and return the textbook brand-new. If you don’t make a paper cover, it’ll be stuck there permanently. If you’re making one for a textbook for school like I did, you don’t want to do that. Here’s the simple instructions for that: https://www.verywell.com/making-a-paper-bag-book-cover-3106756. I used a brown paper bag from Target ™, which is probably the best, just in case some of the under-cover peeks out.

The fur I used

2.  Attach the Fur 

Next up, you have to attach the creatology fur to the paper book cover. First, I took a little thin strip, and attached it to the spine of the book with glue. Do this now. It might depend on how big the book is. First, cut a strip of the fur and glue it on the spine of the book.  Next, you’re going to cut out fur to cover the front of the book and then the back or the book.  The fur pieces should be rectangles that are the same size as the book.  Glue them to the front cover and back cover. It doesn’t matter a whole lot which way the fur is going, or how far the fur hangs over the edges of the book (I did a couple inches because I liked how it sort of concealed the book).

Not the eyes I used but some like it

3. Attach the Eyes

Spray the adhesive, or put the glue onto the front of the book, onto the fur. Put the eyes there. You want to put the eye where the book opens, so do it there. Mine stuck pretty easily, because the eye are made of metal, so it was easy for them so stick to the fur. Be sure to place them so they look like eyes.  Also, hold them down so the glue has time to dry.

Spiders with Jewels

Glow in the Dark Vampire Teeth

4. Attach the Spiders and Teeth

First, you have to cut the vampire teeth in half, so that there’s the lower jaw and the upper jaw of the monster.  Then, attach the upper and lower teeth at the “lips” of the book. You should have a part where the fur hangs off of the front of the book and that’s where you can put your teeth. Finally, for more decoration, if you want, you can put spiders on the front cover. Then, you’re finished! Enjoy your book!

If you want to learn more about creating monsters, go see my writing monsters post!