ABC3D
Marion Bataille, . . Roaring Brook/Porter, $19.95 (36pp) ISBN 978-1-59643-425-7
Among the fall's best pop-up books are two for adults as well as kids—in fact, some grown-ups might not want to let kids get their mitts anywhere near these ingeniously engineered beauties.
From the lenticular cover to the jazzy use of a red, white and black color scheme, this hand-size French alphabet book is as stylish as a pop-up can be. Letters here not only pop up, they move and transform. As the reader turns the page, the curves of the letter B slide out from a column thinly striped in red: they appear as narrowly spaced concentric arcs, creating an almost hypnotic effect. C flips over to become the curve of D; G goes from upright to prone—but then tricks the eye again; and on and on. Many letters are three-dimensional (i.e., the legs of H are hollow paper rectangles), and gain extra glamour from high-contrast backgrounds (white on black; red or black on white). A-plus for drama and innovation. All ages.
Reviewed on: 08/18/2008
Genre: Children's
