lift-the-flap
the single-fold pop-up
the wheel
the platform pop-up
While most of the girls have not had much time to color in their creations, they put a lot of hard work into each character and speech bubble. My photos do not give these lovely books any justice. Here are three that I'm hoping can transcend this not-so-perfect medium.
STORYTELLER
Storyteller did an AMAZING job. The main character of Storyteller’s book is Old Bear, which is based on her much loved and abused stuffed animal that shares the same name. I would post a picture of the real Old Bear, but Storyteller told me that Old Bear is afraid of cameras. This mental image of a cowering bear is a contradictory to his barbaric threat to “beat you like an ape” if you feed him strawberries (see top photo, bottom right speech bubble). What if there wasn’t anything else to eat BUT strawberries? C’mon, Old Bear. Be reasonable!
DANCING GIRL
The main character of Dancing Girl’s pop-up book is a rock music lover named Big Ear Joe. He is from Boston and was born in 1988. (“That’s old!” according to Dancing Girl. Oh, the ignorance of youth…) I found it a bit disturbing that Big Ear Joe “loves skinny babys.” (See bottom left “Facts” on the left page.) He also doesn’t like Smart Cars and considers Pop music “so 24 seconds ago.” It seems that Big Ear Joe has a lot of opinions!
DEN MOTHER
Den Mother’s soap opera-ish story centers around a big-headed baby named Cute Pablo. He is in love with a woman named Roberta and hates Big Ear Joe (for reasons that he does not care to reveal). And there is some reference to his much loved and abused teddy bear—could it be Old Bear??
I wish that I could share all the books with you. There’s a lot of detail and nuance that doesn’t translate well through photos—or my words, for that matter—on a computer screen. It can never replace the actual pop-up book in hand.