Sonic the Hedgehog is there along with SpongeBob SquarePants, Captain Underpants, Pete the Cat and of course Winnie the Pooh and the Cat in the Hat. Li’l Petey also is there along with Greg Heffley and Shaggy and Bluey. And the Old Lady Who Swallowed the Fly is telling Harry Potter to be careful what he puts in his mouth.

These beloved book characters and more have taken up residence in the Eisenhower Middle School library courtesy of students in Ray Kimbrell’s first-year woodworking class. Kimbrell said he struggles every year to find a first project for his students to do, explaining that some students take his class more than once and he doesn’t want to repeat projects.

This year he came up with the idea of having students make wooden cutouts of book characters. The project also gives students their first opportunity to use some of the tools.

“I wanted to bring literacy in,” he said. “I found out it’s not common to do this. I think literacy is important to show reading is in everything, even in woodworking class. We use a lot of math, but it is important to show that literacy is important as well.”

Kimbrell approached Crystal Underwood, EMS library media specialist, about the project. He wanted students to check out books, read them, and then make a wooden character from the book. Once the characters were made, Underwood agreed to display the characters and the books together in the library.

“She was excited. Her eyes lit up, which made me more excited,” Kimbrell said of presenting the idea to Underwood. “It’s a great way to showcase the kids’ work.”

Underwood pulled some library books off the shelves and let the students pick the ones they wanted.

“The rule was they had to read the book and make a model,” Underwood said. “I’ve been really excited about it. It’s a good way to collaborate outside of ELA. It’s a good way to tie into reading. Hopefully they will learn reading doesn’t have to be just because they are told to. I hope it will boost reading and show them that reading is everywhere.”

One popular character was Sonic the Hedgehog, which Montre Bradley chose.

“He’s been my favorite character since he came out,” Bradley said. “He is always helping the little guys. I love his adventures and how he makes friends.”

Bradley checked out the book “Sonic the Hedgehog: Battle for Angel Island Part 1.”

Bradley said this was his first woodworking project, and he mostly used a coping saw.

“To be honest, it was pretty hard with the edges,” Bradley said, adding he accidentally broke some of the blades on the scroll saw. “Mr. Kimbrell told me to go very slow and not rush. I realized I was kind of rushing.”

Students cut a 4-foot piece of wood into 12-inch blocks, which served as the raw material for their project. After choosing a character, they traced the image onto their blocks of wood before using either the scroll saw or the coping saw to cut out the image. Students then sanded the wood before painting it.

“Yes, I’m very pleased with how it turned out,” Bradley said. “I thought I had to give it a try. It didn’t turn out too bad,” adding he was disappointed with how some parts came out. “I felt like I could have done it a little better. I felt like gaps were cut where they were not supposed to be. The outlining made it pop more.”

Bradley said he was excited that his character would be on display in the library for other students to see.

“To be honest, if I could display it in an art museum, I would,” Bradley said.

Arabella Mullinix was making a dinosaur from the book “The Ugly Dino Hatchling.”

“The dinosaur got swept into our world and a family of ducks raised it. As he got older, the other ducks talked about it because it didn’t look just right. Its mama came into our world and got it,” she said, summing up the plot of the book.

She used the coping saw to cut down her block of wood before using the scroll saw to cut out the image.

“I’m getting the main shape done before I go over to the power tools,” she said. “It will be easy to cut out. I will have to paint and sand it. I got a piece of paper and copied it from the book. I tried to make it look as close to the picture as I could.”

Since the project combines woodworking and literacy, does she like to read?

“Kind of,” she said, adding that she chose the book because, “It looked like the simplest of the books there was.”

Mullinix admitted to being nervous about displaying her character for others to see.

“I’m nervous about it, if it doesn’t look good,” she said.

Veronica Williams was working on Li’l Petey from “Dog Man, Mothering Heights”.

“I thought it was a pretty cool character and he is pretty simple to work with. I thought it was a pretty nice book. I read a little bit and watched the movie,” she said, saying she read about half the book.

She too said it was her first time to use the tools.

“I learned you have to be more aware and be very slow. When you are slow, you can make a cleaner cut. I’m trying to make a relief cut,” she said as she worked. “I can do it with that machine over there, but the coping saw can do more things than the machine can. It can do more intricate cuts.”

Williams said she took the class because she enjoys art.

“I’ve worked with everything else in art. I thought it would be nice to work with wood. Yes, I’m enjoying it very much,” she said.

Valentine Alfaro III said he chose the book, “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly,” because his elementary school teacher read it to the class.

“I like how she ate a lot of stuff and didn’t get sick,” Alfaro said.

His wooden character depicted the old lady with a fly in her open mouth.

“I didn’t get a chance to do the mouth really good,” Alfaro said.

J’Ziyah Leday chose Gum Girl, which is her favorite book series, saying she has read the series throughout elementary school.

“It was really hard to cut out. There were lots of curves. I mostly used the coping saw. I broke a blade on the machine, so I used the coping saw. I took off a big chunk and sculpted around it,” she said.

Leday said this was not her first time to use tools; she helps her dad, who does woodworking.

“We spend a lot of time together. I know how to use screwdrivers and stuff,” she said. She said she took the woodworking class because she wanted to become more familiar with woodworking and learn the tools. She said this was the first time she had done a complete project by herself, and that she was very proud of it.

She admitted to being a little nervous about the characters being on display for other students to see, but she hoped one student in particular took notice.

“I hope my sister sees it,” she said, referring to her twin, J’Zaiah. “I brag to her about it every single day.”

Once the characters were cut out, sanded, painted and glued down, it was time to deliver them to the library.

“This is amazing. They captured the characters so well,” Underwood said when the first class brought their characters in and she finally got to see them. “These are so cute. This is a really cool way to incorporate literacy. I’m so proud of them. I can tell they worked hard on them. They made art, this is not just about woodworking.”

Underwood said she planned to leave the characters on display for at least a couple of weeks before giving them to the students to take home.

“I want them to be seen by other students,” Underwood said. “I expected them to be done well; I didn’t expect them to be so precise. They are way beyond what I expected.”

Underwood said she hoped other students would get excited about the characters.

“Maybe it will make them excited about checking out the books that inspired it,” she said.

Indeed, the characters had not been on display long before Underwood said students were asking to check out the books.

“I told them not yet, not for at least a couple more weeks,” Underwood said.