The Paper Door · Sprout · ages 6-8
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Read by an AI-generated voice. The words on this page are the transcript.
Twelve Folds
The hammer rang once. A spark jumped off the anvil and did not go out. It waited. They followed.
It led Lan and Inkling to the print shop. Kami the paper square lay on the table.
They folded Kami in half, then in half again. The last crease went flat, and the paper opened like a door.
They were in a long school hallway. A boy called Sam sat on the floor.
"Grandpa says nobody can fold paper in half eight times," said Sam. "I'm stuck at six."
"I'll stamp it flat!" said Lan. She lifted her foot.
"Stamping only tears it," said Mark. "Read the drawing first."
A drawing hung on the board. It counted layers. One, two, four, eight. Mark read it. "Every fold doubles. You need long, thin paper."
They got a long strip of thin paper. "End to end, exactly," said Cornelia. Two layers. Four. Eight.
The sixth fold slipped. "Smooth it out and try again," said Crinkle. "The crease remembers."
"Now press it flat," said Presso. Seven folds. It was fat and stiff.
"I'm still one piece of paper," said Kami. "One more."
Sam folded it the eighth time. "Two hundred and fifty-six layers!" said Inkling. Every fold doubles.
Far down the hall, a big girl folded a very long strip. Again, and again.
They unfolded the paper flat, and the door closed behind them.
The spark dimmed to a warm dot and settled back on the anvil. The Green was just the Green again.
Back on the Green
Lan folded a strip in half, three times. She counted the layers. One, two, four, eight.
Tell the story back to someone. Why did Sam need a long strip?
Who you met
-
Kami Paper becomes a new shape with every fold, and it only cuts where it is told from CreaseTots -
Lan a child of the Green Goes first; makes a friend in a minute -
Mark The lines tell you what to do — dashes fold, solid lines cut from CreasePals -
Cornelia Bring one corner to meet the other corner, exactly from CreaseTots -
Crinkle Smooth a crooked fold out and try again; the crease remembers from CreaseTots -
Presso Hold the paper still and press the fold flat so it stays from CreaseTots -
Inkling a child of the Green Names what she notices
Every recurring character has a short tune, so you can tell who is on stage before a word is said. The tunes play only when you tap, and the Reading Access sound switch turns them off.
The Honest Page
Which parts of this story are true, stretched or made up?
True
- For a long time people said that no piece of paper could be folded in half more than seven or eight times. Source
- In January 2002 Britney Gallivan, a high-school student in California, folded one very long strip of thin paper in half twelve times, always in the same direction. The strip was about 1,200 metres long, the kind of paper on a toilet roll. Source
- A month before, she worked out a rule for how long a strip must be for each number of folds. Every extra fold needs a lot more paper, because the layers double. Source
- Each fold in half doubles the layers: one fold makes 2, three folds make 8, six make 64, seven make 128 and eight make 256.
Stretched
- In our story the teenage girl folds her strip down a school hallway, on the same day as Sam. What we simplified: We do not know exactly where she folded or which day, so we put her in a long hallway in the background. She folds; she does not explain.
- In our story a drawing on the notice board counts the layers. What we simplified: We made up that drawing so the cast could read it; the doubling it shows is real.
Made up
- Sam, his grandpa, the school office and the paper door are made up. Kami, Mark, Cornelia, Presso and Crinkle are our own characters.