Behold the marvels of the pop-up book, a masterpiece of skill and delicate three-dimensional art that is sure to spur your imagination to unparalleled new heights.
Pop-up books are really engineering marvels -- I'm talkin' paper engineers, whose intricate and often bizarre movable art constructions absolutely make ideas come to life for readers. There are pull-tabs, for example, with vertical slats that "transform" one scene into a totally different scene.
Recently I sent The Pop-Up Book of M.C. Escher to a friend who loves the intricacies of both art and architecture. She told me she spent an entire afternoon "trying to understand how Escher got so many dimensions into a single plane," and then confided, "I could sort of figure out the mobius strip image, at least." She summed up her impressions of the book with, "Escher's art is so inventive and intriguing; the images are endlessly fascinating." That pop-up book is inspiring her to create more complex art of her own!
Last weekend, at another friend's "giveaway party," I saw a book with the intriguing title: The Pop-Up Book of Phobias. Sure enough, in that 1999 book by stand-up comedian Gary Greenberg, there are huge spiders (to depict arachnophobia), and other pop-up delights to illustrate the fear of: flying, enclosed spaces, dentists (a huge dental drill seems to jump right off the page toward you), tall buildings, and crowds.
The Pop-Up Book of Sailing Ships is another wonder. It shows every detail of ships, from mastheads to riggings, from the time of Christopher Columbus to the modern day.
The very first pop-up book appeared way, way, way back in 1306, and was about astrology. Since then, most pop-up books have been primarily aimed at adults, but now there are loads of pop-up books for children (and for childlike adults). Some children's pop-up books feature Sesame Street or Disney characters, or Babar, etc.
Have you ever peeked into a pop-up book? If not, I would encourage you to run (not walk) to your closest bookstore and head for the pop-up section -- sometimes you’ll find it in the children's area. You will be amazed, thrilled, and delighted beyond your wildest dreams at what you discover.
Linda Jay is a writer/editor who is completely in love with words. A publishing professional, she started her career as an advertising copywriter in the Trade Book Department of Little, Brown Publishers in Boston when JFK was president. She’s written profiles and feature stories for national magazine on topics ranging from artists to multimedia enthusiasts to academics and engineers. Nowadays, Linda writes marketing copy, website text, blog posts, and high-tech magazine p.r. In addition, she copyedits book manuscripts in genres ranging from business to vampires and zombies, for authors in the U.S. and in other countries. She also edits and proofreads magazine articles, website email blasts, and print material of all types.
From San Francisco
Preposterous Pop-Ups
by Linda Jay