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Bookstrips refer to little keyboards and the like found on the edge of children's books. Such toys combined with books
tend to be powered by disc two or three disk (LR) batteries. Once in a while, I can find books with bookstrips at one of the
local thrift stores for less than two dollars apiece. Such prices tend to be less than the price for battery replacement.
Hence the value of separate battery holders. The bookstrip incantor in the picture features a two-AA battery holder from Radio
Shack. After separating the strip from the book, I removed the disk battery holder (with the intact batteries noticeably
drained) and replaced it with the former. Heat shrink tubing covers the junctions where I soldered the wires together. In
addition, I soldered six pieces of bellwire to potential bend points. The bookstrip had a microphone which, unfortunately,
was missing, leaving an additional wire hanging loose. The stripped wire ends serve as body contacts. Though I'm wary of touching
a couple of contact points at the same time (they seem to generate static, a significant warning sign), others serve as interesting
starting points for sound variations.
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