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Review_CHILDREN’S
trated book. Pulling a tab causes a cluster of leaves to trans-
form into rich oranges and yellows in the opening spread;
later pages feature torrents of falling leaves, a birch tree that
comes to three-dimensional life, and mushrooms that spring
from the forest floor. Tiny
white arrows direct children to
small flaps, under which they
can read about why leaves
change color, the habits of var-
ious animals, and related
topics. The understated text
doesn’t always do much to bol-
ster the book’s overall sense of
wonder (“Leaves change,” it concludes. “They are so
amazing”), but the variety of pop-up effects and animals
tucked into the scenes—an adorable baby hedgehog, a frog
that leaps—create an enticing vision of seasonal change.
Ages 3–8. (Sept.)
What a Mess! A Pop-up Misadventure
Keith Allen. 5am Press, $34.99 (14p) ISBN 978-0-692-81057-6
A messy bedroom makes a world of trouble for two
unnamed siblings in this Kickstarter-funded pop-up book
from paper engineer Allen. After the kids’ belongings explode
out of their room, the result is “a mountain of toys nearly
touching the sky!” In dealing with that problem, the brother
and sister are beset by an awful smell, a dust cyclone, and a
closet that threatens to consume them. Chaotic and colorful,
Allen’s digital graphics and playfully haphazard pop-ups
create an atmosphere of playful disaster; toward the end, he
uses a spiraling strip of acetate to send socks and underwear
flying when the children discover an under-the-bed vortex.
The rhymes can be strained (“They started to sink in a big pile
of sweaters,/ but safely grabbed onto a boa of feathers”) but the
book exudes such a sense of fun that most readers won’t mind.
Ages 3–8. (BookLife)
★ ABC Pop-up
Courtney Watson McCarthy. Candlewick Studio, $29.99 (32p)
ISBN 978-0-7636-9007-6
In the spirit of Marion Bataille’s ABC3D, this spare,
compact pop-up book combines elegant paper engineering
with a subtle seek-and-find mission as it moves through the
alphabet. The book is wordless, but readers will notice small
capital letters embossed into the pop-ups; hunting them down
becomes part of the fun, along with naming the animals and
objects they represent. A remarkably three-dimensional apple
kicks things off, the A hidden within its leaf. Several spreads
combine multiple letters (a tree with sprawling roots and a
dangling tire swing takes care of R, S, and T), and surprises
abound (a skeleton-revealing x-ray is especially satisfying). A
couple entries may stymie readers (that V is represented by a
village isn’t immediately apparent), but readers young and old
will be impressed by how much fun McCarthy packs into a
small package. Ages 5–9. (Sept.)
All Aboard the Discovery Express
Emily Hawkins and Tom Adams, illus. by Tom Clohoshy-Cole. Wide
Eyed Editions, $27.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-84780-990-2
Conductor Pierre Henri and explorer Nancy Delany serves
as readers’ guides aboard the Discovery Express, a time-trav-eling train that the authors use to dive into the history of
transportation. Multiple flaps are incorporated into the
pages, lifting to reveal details about transportation milestones and technologies (such as how steam engines and electric motors work), as well as clues designed to help readers
solve the mystery of a missing professor. Leonardo da Vinci’s
workshop, the Panama Canal, and the North Carolina site of
the Wright brothers’ flight are among the locations visited,
and Clohoshy-Cole captures these and other settings in cinematic digital illustrations that highlight the excitement and
potential surrounding these advancements. It’s an engaging
overview of humankind’s attempts to travel faster and farther—and of the pilots, inventors, and dreamers who made
those developments possible. Ages 7–10. (Oct.)
★ Pop-up Shakespeare
The Reduced Shakespeare Co., illus. by Jennie Maizels. Candlewick,
$19.99 (10p) ISBN 978-0-7636-9874-4
“How much do you know about Shakespeare himself? Not
much? No worries! Nobody else does, either.” Famous for its
condensed versions of the Bard’s plays, the Reduced Shakespeare
Company, a traveling comedy troupe, offers a delightfully irrev-
erent tour of his work, assisted by
pop-ups, flaps, and Maizels’s
equally playful cartooning. After
an introduction to Shakespeare the
man, four pop-up spreads collect
his comedies, histories, romances,
and tragedies, combining capsule
summaries with pithy takeaways
(for The Merchant of Venice: “Always
read the fine print”). Despite the
conciseness with which the plays, sonnets, and poems are dis-
cussed, plenty of historical context is provided, and the pages
are packed with information—recaps of several plays appear on
the reverse sides of the flaps and pop-up castles and seascapes.
For readers intimidated by Shakespeare, it’s hard to imagine a
more entertaining way to get a sense of what these classics are
about. Ages 7–10. (Oct.)
