Each copy is personally signed by the author and includes one loose handmade paper sample, with a complete description, as a giveaway to buyers who purchase the book directly from her. This book, written in English and Chinese, is the result of the author's eighteen-month artist-in-residence project as a Fulbright scholar in Taiwan, sponsored by the Taiwan National Culture and Arts Foundation and the Council for Cultural Affairs. With this broad support, Allen traveled to different communities in Taiwan, locating a variety of plants for papermaking, interacting with diverse cultures, and creating her "site maps" and art installations. On the front cover of the book, we are introduced to the Allens, riding a scooter, superimposed on one of the author's vivid "site map" artworks. It is a striking and inviting cover, more so probably for Chinese readers than English readers. While the book title is prominently placed on the cover in Chinese characters in approximately 48-point type size; the English-language title appears in 6-point type size. A natural treasure island full of surprises, Taiwan, formerly named Formosa ("Beautiful Island"), offers countless landscapes and infinite ecological diversity. From broad plains almost at sea level to mountains that soar to more than 3,000 meters, Taiwan's terrain is a haven for 10,000 or so species of plants and animals. Allen patiently worked with 135 plants in fourteen places throughout Taiwan, including Kinmen, an interesting group of small islands in the Taiwan Strait just two kilometers off the coast of Mainland China. Throughout her journey the author created what she calls "site maps," artworks created with handmade paper made from local Taiwanese plants collected in each of the fourteen places she visited. The "site maps" serve as a kind made in taiwan, an american papermaking artist's journey around taiwan. Jane Ingram Allen. Taipei, Taiwan: 2005. 256 pages, 7 ½ x 7 ½ x inches, with French flap softcover, perfect-bound. Written in English and Chinese. Full-color illustrations throughout. NT$450 (or US$25 including shipping from Taiwan). Available from the author via email, info@janeingramallen.com. Make Paper, Create Art, Will Travel loreto d. apilado Jane Ingram Allen, Floral Abundance, 2004, approximately 70 x 35 inches, a "Taiwan site map" made of handmade paper from Taiwanese local plants, collage, acrylic paint and gel, string. All photos courtesy of Jane Ingram Allen. winter 2007 - 37 of journal, documenting her experience of each location. Several of these artworks are featured in colorful illustrations throughout the book. A full catalog of the 54 artworks produced by the author during the "Made in Taiwan" project appears in Appendix A. Unfortunately the list of the works are not cross-referenced to the illustrated works located in the book. These works deserve their own big-format, full-color glossy art book. A substantial portion of the book is devoted to site chapters, each providing a brief but informative introduction to the counties, townships, suburbs, islands, and nature parks she visited in each locale. In the chapter on Miaoli County, Allen describes Shi-tan village, the site of an old papermaker's trail for transporting paper down to the sea to ship to China. Villagers explained how early papermakers retted bamboo and mulberry bark which allowed them to process the fiber without cooking. The site chapters contain a full page for each plant Allen researched including a color photograph of the plant, a reproduction of a small paper sample shown at about half-scale (actual size of the samples is 2 ½ x 3 ½ inches), a detailed description of the papermaking process, and a paper quality rating. The author also shares the cultural background about each plant including folk customs, home remedies, and notes of general interest. For the betel palm tree, Allen reports, "Betel nuts, or ‘Taiwan Chewing Gum,' are sold in roadside stands by skimpily clad young women." (I myself witnessed these vendors in Taichung, Taiwan.) A table summarizing the scientific names, common English and Chinese names, and places where the author made paper from the plants is located in Appendix B. Curiously, five plants are mentioned in the appendix but do not appear in the site chapters. Tim Allen's photographs in the book are colorful and describes well the plants, places, and people of their journey. The quality of the pictures is vivid but it would have been interesting and helpful if the book shared more photographs of Taiwan's exotic places and reproduced detail shots of the author's artwork. I highly recommend that readers take a close look at the hand papermaking techniques Allen employed in this project. In the "My Process" chapter she breaks the process down into several steps accompanied with detailed illustrations. I only wish that she could have tried some of the more involved historical techniques, for instance, retting bamboo. Most of the techniques she describes are of the simple, kitchen-papermaking variety. Although the means are very basic, the resulting artworks are superb. I also love the way her students, as young as eleven years old and up in their eighties, challenge themselves to develop effective and time-saving techniques. In the Pingtung site chapter, Allen tells us of a retired engineer who came up with a method of hammering tree branches with a wooden mallet to loosen the bark, a technique she used in all of her subsequent workshops. Made in Taiwan explores not only the varied plants available for hand papermaking around the islands but also the modern and indigenous cultures and traditions of the Taiwanese people. The book is, at the same time, a hand papermaking journal, a travel diary, and a guide to plant papermaking. Aside from some typographical errors and the absence of an index and bibliography, this book is very informative and pleasing to the eye. By publishing the book in Chinese as well as in English, Allen is reaching out to billions of potential new hand papermakers. reviews Betel nut palm trees growing in Taipei. Allen used the tree bark for papermaking. A retired engineer in Allen's Pingtung county workshop is beating branches to loosen the bark for papermaking.