Kids Book Reviews

Winter's Tale: An Original Pop-up Journey (Hardcover)

by Robert Sabuda (Illustrator)

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Hardcover: 12 pages
• Publisher: Little Simon (September 27, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689853637
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Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 3–Done mostly in sparkly whites, shiny silvers, and icy pastel hues, Sabuda's dazzling pop-ups upstage the simple text in a tale that highlights the wonders of a winter landscape. The paper constructions are indicative of the artist's usual high standard: an owl soars off the pages; a cave lifts and opens to show the foxes concealed within; and a waterfall cascades into a rushing river, where a bear darts forward to catch the fish that dance above the water's surface. The final 3-D scene shows all of the creatures posed within a forest of evergreens and bare trees, while a snowman standing in front of a lonely house reveals himself as the story's narrator, and promises to return for a visit next year. All of the animals–whether deer, squirrels, or a moose–are sculpted out of flat white paper, making them look elegant against the more colorful woodsy backdrops. While the artwork is stunning, there is not much plot here and the pop-ups are delicate, making the book more of a confection for browsing or winter displays than a story for reading.–Joy Fleishhacker, School Library Journal
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From Booklist
K-Gr. 3. More dimensional sleight-of-hand awaits readers in Sabuda's latest entry in the Classic Collectible Pop-Up series. The theme here is winter wildlife, and as in many of Sabuda's books, the spreads feature spare, white pop-ups set against boldly graphic backgrounds embellished with glitter and foil. The renderings display Sabuda's typical virtuosity with a few exceptions; the bear's rounded physique, for example, doesn't translate quite as well to the planes and creases of pop-up art as do the forms of other animals. Remind readers to peek under the diecut flaps on most spreads, where they'll discover miniature pop-up scenes of additional woodland creatures. The text is fairly weak (an owl is described as "a soft streak of white in the sky," even though the artwork shows a close-up bird), but there's a gentle mystery about the identity of the narrator, who remains unseen until the last spread. The piece de resistance? A cozy cottage decorated with tiny, blinking Christmas lights, powered by replaceable batteries. Jennifer Mattson
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