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Two Good
To 'Be True!
Page For Page,
She's Got You Covered
JULIE EDGAR STAFF WRITER
y
oushouldn't judge a book
by its cover, but you can
judge a book cover.
Ann Kaplan, who was
practically born with needle and
thread in hand, is addicted to
cloth, which she fashions into
covers for paperback-size books
and large and small hardcovers.
Bookstores in seven states, in-
cluding Michigan, and area hos-
pital stores carry the novelties,
which sell for $7 to $7.50.
Mrs. Kaplan, 69, started mak-
ing the covers 13 years ago as a
scholarship fund-raiser for Pio-
neer Women, now known as
s299*mo.
30 months
Name:Ann Kaplan
Family: Husband, Seymour;
daughter, Maureen Stafford; sis-
ter, Barbara Geller; clau,ghter-in-
law, Paula Kaplan; grand
child,ren, Eric, Scott and Brandon,
Community Involvement:
President, Sharona Chapter of
Na'Amat USA; member, Tem-
ple Emanu-El and its sister
BMW 5251
Ann Kaplan: Book cover maker.
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dent bookstores picked them up,
along with the Detroit Zoo, Cran-
brook Science Institute, the
Brookfield Zoo in Illinois and a
few local Hallmark gift shops.
The idea for the covers wasn't
her own, but she improved upon
it.
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10A.M.-4P.M.
SERVICE/PARTS/SALES
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Na'Amat. She officially started
the Book Cover Gallery in her
home in Oak Park 10 years ago
after her husband Seymour suf-
fered a stroke. She decided to
leave her accounting job to be
home with him.
"By then I had sold to every-
body in Na'Amat, Hadassah,
B'nai B'rith. That was my ther-
apy. I built up a tremendous in-
ventory and now I was looking
for a market," she said.
When she and Mr. Kaplan
first went to Florida (after he suf-
fered his stroke), a bookstore in
North Miami Beach offered to
sell the covers. They were so suc-
cessful, Mrs. Kaplan was able to
sell them through Waldenbooks
and B. Daltons in south Florida
.and in some stores here. After B.
Daltons was sold and the buyer
at Waldenbooks left, she no
longer pursued chain stores as
an avenue for her book covers.
"I saw a book cover at a craft
show, bought one and didn't like
the way it was made. I thought
they were such a simple thing to
make and I had never seen them
before. When I was selling them
to fellow members of Na'amat —
Jews are notoriously good read-
ers — I found that everybody
liked them. It's a special item you
don't see everywhere," she said.
Mrs. Kaplan's father was a tai-
lor, and she and her sisters were
seamstresses. She can't pass by
a fabric store without stopping
in to browse and usually to buy
something.
"What can I tell you? I'm a fab-
ric-holic and my husband said 'ei-
ther use it or throw it out,' " Mrs.
Kaplan said.
She produces about 3,000 cov-
ers a year, raising enough mon-
ey to spend the three months of
the winter in Florida with her