Micronations ─ Invent Your Own Country and Culture With 25 Projects

For anyone who's ever dreamed of ruling over their own empire, here's your chance! Micronations are imaginary countries that have a lot of the same things as real ones: laws, customs, history, and their own flags, coins, and postage stamps. Micronations: Invent Your Own Country and Culture takes readers step-by-step to create their own unique realm, using examples from real nations, micronations, and fictional lands. What makes a country a country? What symbols and systems define a country and help it function? Learn about geography and government, technology and the environment, art and culture, and the literary device of "world-building" used in works like The Hobbit and Harry Potter.

Activities show readers how to create authentic-looking artifacts and documents such as maps, currency, passports, a declaration of independence, and a constitution. Kids get to invent their own language, music, games, clothing, food, and holidays to fit their micronation's tradition. Whether they create a land of time travel where every city exists in a different epoch or an underwater monarchy (motto: ?Bubbles, bubbles and more bubbles”) whose chief export is fish, Micronations: Invent Your Own Country and Culture will engage kids' imagination and teach make-believe rulers how the real world works.

Kathy Ceceri is a Senior Editor for Wired.com's GeekMom blog and a longtime contributor to the GeekDad blog. She writes educational activity books that combine science with history and art, as well as features on parenting, family travel, and crafts for newspapers and magazines. Kathy lives in Schuylerville, NY.

Chad Thompson has been drawing cartoons since childhood. He is a graduate of Columbus College of Art and Design and worked at Walt Disney Feature Animation studio in Florida animating movies for several years. In addition to animation, Chad does illustration and design work for a variety of clients. Chad lives in Kissimmee, FL.