cover image Pop–Up: Everything You Need to Know to Create Your Own Pop-Up Book

Pop–Up: Everything You Need to Know to Create Your Own Pop-Up Book

Paper engineering by Ruth Wickings, illus. by Frances Castle, Candlewick, $19.99 (16p) ISBN 978-0-7636-5056-8

Here's a pop-up book to rival Kramer's coffee-table book about coffee-table books. First outlining the basic building blocks of pop-up engineering (types of folds, mechanics like noisemakers and spirals), the book then uses the example of a pop-up robot to demonstrate how such components work together. The remaining sections offer four illustrated scenes, into which punch-out pop-up elements can be incorporated. Detailed directions show how to attach a dragon's pop-up head onto its body; erect a medieval castle; insert Frankenstein's monster into the lab; and create a pop-up jungle. Completing the pop-ups will be tricky for younger readers (the difficulty level increases with each project) but the end result should be as gratifying as it is illuminating. Ages 7–up. (Oct.)