Movable Mother Goose: A Classic Collectible Pop-Up (Mother Goose Pop-up Series)

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This elaborate pop-up book adds a spectacular twist to Mother Goose's well-loved rhymes. Paper artist Robert Sabuda, preeminent patriarch of modern pop-up engineering, brings yet another explosion of motion and color to his latest masterpiece. Attributing animal personalities to nursery-rhyme characters, he surprises young readers time and again. In "Jack Be Nimble," for example, the fellow leaping lithely over a candlestick is none other than a grasshopper. And the Man in the Moon is seen from a startling perspective: he has decidedly alien features! Sabuda's quirky take on traditional rhymes, combined with his fantastic folding, moving, spinning paper sculptures, will have pop-up fanciers and Mother Goose devotees clamoring for more. Sturdier than most pop-ups, these three-dimensional constructions are nonetheless vulnerable to tiny grabbing hands. At his best, Sabuda creates breathtaking displays of pop-up craftsmanship, as in the "four and twenty blackbirds" bursting rowdily out of a pie, mirrored sunglasses on every one. At his worst, he creates slightly bewildering beings, such as the star-shaped Jill in "Jack and Jill" tumbling down a mysterious edifice. He may occasionally (and understandably--what a fun job!) get carried away with his engineering feats. (Ages 4 to 8) --Emilie Coulter

From Publishers Weekly
Sabuda (ABC Disney) upholds his reputation for mind-bogglingly elaborate paper confections with this surprise-filled collection of nursery rhymes. An all-animal cast makes for some amusing twists: Little Bo-Peep is a sheepdog, Miss Muffet a fly (with good reason to be frightened by a spider) and nimble Jack a grasshopper. Each spread has a central rhyme, the pop-up for which unfolds with the turn of a page; rectangular flaps introduce additional rhymes. The creatures, rendered in matte blocks of color (plus some metallic foil), take on the form of a cut-paper sculpture. The pop-ups are occasionally difficult to decipher: it takes some analysis, for example, to figure out that Jack and Jill are ants tumbling down an anthill. Though Sabuda seems particularly fond of insects, their unfolding limbs and body segments can make them the most challenging to decode. However, the virtuoso pieces are astonishing, particularly the mice that race up and down for "Hickory Dickory Dock" and the four-and-twenty sunglasses-sporting blackbirds that burst from a pie. All ages. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 3-Sabuda continues his run of groundbreaking pop-ups with this buggy (in more than one sense of the term) take on a handful of Mother Goose rhymes. Each spread opens up a dazzling large construction, with one to five smaller pop-ups behind satellite flaps: two cockroaches perch on cups; Jack and Jill, a pair of termites, roll down their mound toward a waiting anteater; and the menacing spider that frightens Miss Muffet is topped by a positively scream-inducing bedbug that lunges out as its flap is raised. Other effects include a huge spreading peacock, a glorious burst of blackbirds, and a small splotch of peanut butter on a railroad track that is an architectural triumph. The downside to such complex effects is their sometimes-extreme fragility; more problematic is the extreme stylization of the figures to the point that Jack and Jill are recognizable only from context, and candle-jumper Jack is an indecipherable tangle of legs and antennae. Still, Sabuda proves again that he is as much an artist as a paper engineer, capable not only of designing cutting-edge special effects, but of using them in ingeniously creative ways.John Peters, New York Public Library Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
Sabuda's interpretation of Mother Goose is a work of moving art, which necessitates that it also be treated like one. This isn't a volume that will survive the wear and tear of many circulations; some of the paper parts have to be gently coaxed into position. However, the reward for handling with care is great; these feats of paper engineering not only illustrate nursery rhymes in three dimensions, but they also reinterpret them, e.g., ``One, two,/Buckle my shoe'' is reenvisioned as a woodpecker and a hen preparing for a night out. ``Knock on the door'' shows the earnest woodpecker tapping on the front entrance with his beak, while ``Pick up sticks'' shows the hen choosing her lipstick. Glorious colors and elaborate configurations of blackbirds bursting out of pies and peacocks fanning their feathers make this an exhibition of paper prowess that's unforgettable. (Pop-up. 4-9) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Book Description
Robert Sabuda's The Movable Mother Goose puts a new spin on traditional nursery rhymes as they come alive in a glorious explosion of color! This pop-up extravaganza by award winner Robert Sabuda is destined to become a new classic for all generations.


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More visceral storytellling for the little ones, Robert Sabuda's spectacular pop-up book, in which the familiar crew—including four-and-twenty blackbirds in black bonnets and silver sunglasses— emerge from the proverbial pie.


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