By Jan Pienkowski
Age: 2+
Interests: pop-up books, Hallowe’en, spooky stuff, monsters
William Heinemann Ltd: 1979
12 pp.
Also by this author/illustrator: The Kingdom Under the Sea, Meg and Mog series, The Golden Bird
Other pop-ups by this author: Robot, Dinner Time, Goodnight, and many others
Incredible pop-up design to this one – each page takes us through a haunted house, and you never know who or what is going to jump out at you next. There are plenty of little flaps to open and tabs to pull, all masterfully designed and executed. One dial moves the hands on the clock, the flames in the fireplace AND a panoramic scene in the top of the clock. There are paintings with moving eyes, a crocodile in the bathtub, and aliens crashing through the wall.
Cartoony, funny-spooky, and intriguing, this is a really fun book for Hallowe’en. It’s great for even the very young, since the creatures and effects are generally more bizarre and funny than truly scary (ie. the gorilla in an armchair by the fire with his knitting).
This book is probably a pretty rare find, as it is no longer in print and pop-up books don’t generally have long lives – the library copy I saw was extremely worn and a few tabs were ripped.
(used copies available via amazon.com)
Rarest Kind of Best 