I’ve received a few emails about the lapbook that I recently posted on TpT. I decided to write this post to explain why it is suddenly MIA. Even though I did not copy any graphics or text from How the Grinch Stole Christmas, TpT pulled my lapbook from the listings due to the fact that “Grinch” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” are both trademarked items. Apparently that means that those terms cannot be used in a published format without written consent despite the fact that my lapbook was intended to promote literacy and was not created for profit. I’m in no way blaming TpT. They are trying to keep us little people from getting into hot water with the big people with the well-paid attorneys and I can appreciate that.
I have thought of a couple of alternatives to this trademark conundrum.
PLAN A is to change all the character names but make the file editable so that others could change the names to whatever they wanted. For example, I could use “Grouch” instead of the “G” word. Then teachers could change “Grouch” to something else. This might be get kind of complicated and I wouldn’t feel comfortable posting this version on TpT.
PLAN B is to offer the lapbook with completely blank templates in an editable format. This option would allow teachers to use this activity with any book. I like this idea but not sure others would. A lot of us just don’t have a ton of free time to create our own materials.
If you have any thoughts or suggestions concerning PLAN A or PLAN B, email me or leave a comment. In the meantime, for a limited time I’m posting the original lapbook (but with a different name) here. It won’t be up for long, so if you’re interested, grab it while you can!
I’m very sorry for the inconvenience this has caused. It’s pretty embarrassing to have a product that no longer exists in the TpT holiday ebook. Despite my embarassment, I’m treating this as a “live and learn” type of experience.
I like plan B. I had been thinking how nice it would be to do this with other books. Whatever you decide, my class has had a great time creating your lapbook.
ReplyDeleteI loved your lapbook (and so did my class). I was just online looking for it again because I had like the format and was going to see if I could make something similiar for fables/folktales. The foldable was a hit with my kiddos!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad your class enjoyed it! It takes a little extra work but it so worth it.
ReplyDeleteHooty