The Magic of Pop-Up Books for Kids: 7 of Our Favourites

The Magic of Pop-Up Books for Kids: 7 of Our Favourites

Dragon and the Knight internalDid you love pop-up books when you were a kid?

We’ve mentioned before how much we enjoy visiting the novelty sections of bookshops (see our story about lift-the-flap books), and opening a pop-up book always gives us a special twinge of nostalgia for our own childhoods and a tingle of wonder at how flat paper can become a magical, 3-D structure with the addition of a few folds and cuts.

The lostmy.name blog tells us that the first known example of a pop-up book is from the 13th century! And today pop-ups continue to stretch the boundaries of what printed books – paper, ink and glue – can do.

Below are a few of our favourites (click on the titles or cover images for more information or to buy the books).

Two of the books on our list – Sam’s Sandwich and The Wheels on the Bus – were first published back in the 1990s but are still adored by kids today.

Unfolding layers and pop-out ‘surprise’ items perfectly suit a story about a boy making an elaborately layered – and gross – sandwich for his sister. See inside Sam’s Sandwich here:

And OK, yes, it’s technically more a book of moving parts than a pop-up, but we have to include David Zelinsky’s version of Wheels on the Bus here because of its clever and beautifully-judged kid-friendly elements. As you pull the tabs in the book, the windscreen wipers move, as do eyes and mouths on the ‘crying baby’ page, while a mother pops a dummy in and out of her baby’s mouth. It’s all just right, creating a sense of movement without being over the top. Kids love the classic ‘Wheels on the Bus’ song and will demand repeat readings of this book!

A more modern addition to the pop-up shelves is Icky Sticky Monster: a very bright, cartoon-ish book with huge pop-up elements that fill and overflow the pages. This one is for kids who like gross things: they’ll find the little monster hiding in a toilet, offering to share his snot and looking for lunch in the bin. The text is ideal for reading aloud, with a nice surprise at the end.

See inside Icky Sticky Monster here:

Staying with the gross factor, pop ups are also often used to illustrate factual books and science-based topics and The Really Gross Body Book is an ingenious addition to the non-fiction shelves. It’s great for kids who prefer ‘real life’ stories and fact books.

We generally prefer books that were conceived as pop-ups from the beginning, because the story and effects tend to dovetail better than in ‘adaptations’ created after a book has already been published. But the pop-up version of Guess How Much I Love You is very charming: we love the sweet way Big Nutbrown Hare and Little Nutbrown Hare move towards each other and spread their arms wide. (We’re also intrigued by the idea of the new pop-up adaptation of Asterix, which is being released this November.)

See inside the Guess How Much I Love You pop-up here:

Robert Sabuda’s The Dragon and the Knight is a special and ingenious tale about a dragon and a knight chasing each other through different fairy tale settings. It’s not for little kids – the paper engineering is just too delicate – but older children and adults will be intrigued by the paper flames, roaring dragons, incredibly detailed ships and houses and more.

Sabuda is one of the master pop-up creators, and if you’re tempted to try making your own pop-ups, you can find tutorials on his website .

Alternatively, try the book A Tiger in My Garden, which comes with precut card pieces and instructions for gluing and fitting them together to create pop-up garden scenes.

Tiger in my garden internal

Which pop-ups did you adore as a kid? Please tell us in the comments below, and if you like this story please consider sharing it using the social buttons.

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