Gladys Hunt on Pop-up Books

Editor’s Note: Pop-up books could be one of those “Fresh Ways to Read” we’re considering in our Honey for a Child’s Heart Read-along this month. They’re clever, but are they always a good choice for gift-giving?

Do pop-ups improve a book?

Originally published on the Tumblon website, December 1, 2009

It’s the time of the year to be reminded that books make great and lasting Christmas gifts. Toys break and lose their charm, but good books keep going on and on. I have in my file a letter from my sixteen year old nephew, thanking me for books. He wrote, “I look at my bookcase and notice that my shelves are full of favorite books that you gave me over the years—and each has a memory. Thanks.” He didn’t mention that gimmicky toy I sent him when he was three which has probably been trashed by now, but he did mention A Hole is to Dig, which I gave him for his third birthday.

Pop-Up books are everywhere this year, and most of them are clever enough to catch your eye. I don’t want to be a spoil-sport, but I have my doubts about most of them. In my experience they are novel and attractive for a very short life-span. Once you have seen how it works, you’ve seen it. No imagination needed. I guess I evaluate this mini-trend to make over ordinary picture books into pop-ups as inspired by the cash register. It’s called “mining the backlist.”

Michael Rosen’s We’re Going on a Bear Hunt is one of these. Originally published in 1989 and a favorite with many families, this story is so full of movement that it’s a natural for tabs to pull and pop-ups to enjoy. The new illustrations by Helen Oxenbury are charming. It’s a fun book. But is it as much fun as acting out the story as a family? While this pop-up does justice to the original book, it is more passive than exciting as we watch it unfold. I think it the most attractive of the lot, but still I wonder.

But I can’t say the same for Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who Pop-up! The text has not been revised, fortunately, but several spreads have multiple pop-ups with lots of text squashed together so it can all fit in. It almost seems like over-kill. It’s not bad, but I found myself asking, “Who needs this?” The original is charming enough.

You will want to look closely at Charlie and Lola’s I Will Never Ever Eat a Tomato Pop-up if you are tempted to buy it. Originally written as I Will Never Ever Eat a Tomato (2000) the text in this new version has been changed and the page layouts reworked, and thus some of the crucial plot elements have been left out. In short, it has been edited to make way for pop-ups. I like the original better and find it more entertaining. The story line should be more important than the pop-ups.

I am not saying “Don’t buy!” I am saying, “Think about it!” What are your values in making your purchase? A good story is a good story and the point of the book. And a good book should inspire and even require some imagination on the part of the child reading it.

© Gladys M. Hunt 2008-10, reissued in 2022 with minor adjustments with permission of the Executor of the Literary Estate of Gladys M. Hunt (4194 Hilton SE, Lowell, MI 49331). Used by permission. All rights reserved.