For more than 700 years book designers have tried to challenge the book’s 2 dimensional nature by adding flaps, revolving parts, and other movable pieces to enhance the text. In 1765 an Englishman Robert Sayer Produced the first true movable book for children, with illustrated paper flaps that were folded up or down to change the illustration and thereby change the story. But it wasn’t until 1929, that S. Louis Giraud (1879-1950 England) created the first book for children with true pop-ups, activated by turning the page.
Here are Herok’s top five favourites that you can find available today.
1. Haunted House by Jan Pienkowski
The owner of the Haunted House is not well – and it is not surprising. There’s a ghoul in the cupboard, an octopus in the sink, a crocodile in the bath, and in every room, a sinister black cat is watching it all with roving eyes. This book started a bit of a resurgence for pop-ups in the late 1970s and you can learn a lot about paper engineering from it. It also won the Kate Greenaway Award, the most prestigious children’s book award in the UK.
2. The Bedtime Bear: A Pop-up Book for Bedtime by Ian Whybrow
Who knows where the Bedtime Bear spends his day? With flaps to lift, wheels to turn and a pop-up on every spread, follow one little bear’s adventures on his whacky way to bed!
With 5 fun surprises, a baby will love the bright photographs and pop-out farmyard surprises. Watch as a cockerel pops out from a pigsty and a horse pops out from a field of cows. Read together and lift the flaps to reveal your favourite farm animals popping out from the page.
4. Little Monsters by Jan Pienkowski
A succession of monsters, each more grotesque than the last, jump out at you in this brightly coloured pop-up that’s sure to engage anyone.
5. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Robert Sabuda
Building on his reputation as one of the most innovative paper-engineers working in children’s books, Robert Sabuda dazzles us with his reworking of Alice in Wonderland. The book consists of 7 spreads with breathtaking super-size pop-ups and additional pop-ups contained within mini story books. The text is faithful to Lewis Carroll’s original story, and special effects like a Victorian peep show, multifaceted foil, and tactile elements make this a pop-up to read and admire again and again.
If you need to update your primary school library furniture, why not ‘pop up’ to the manufacturer, Herok, based in Hertfordshire. Herok manufactures a wide choice of sturdy Kinderboxes, book trolleys, library shelving, book and media spinners, book displays and reading corners in a great range of colours. See www.Herok.com for further details of all of our school library furniture products.
