A project for her French class was the perfect vehicle to expand Maya’s woodworking skills beyond those used for kayak building (which is largely an exercise in fiberglassing). Students are each assigned a different type of building which can be found in a typical French village. They are expected to research the style of architecture and create a design on paper and then a scale model. All of the buildings are organized into a model village and facilitate conversations about life in France (“How do I get from the train station to that little hotel next to the bakery?”). Maya’s two-story bookshop features bookshelves, window displays, actual windows, a cloth awning, stucco paint, a slate roof, and wrought iron balcony rails. During the course of the project, under careful supervision, she learned to use the table saw, chop saw, jigsaw (both stationary and cordless), and pneumatic pin nailer. The result is likely to be the talk of the town. In order to light the interior, I placed a radio-controlled flash inside the structure.