Omni Daily Crush: "The Little Prince Pop-Up"
I guess it would be something of an understatement to say that pop-up books have re-emerged as a popular book format over the past five years. 
Once considered novelty books, the genre consistently lights up the bestseller lists during the holiday season. It's not rocket science to understand why. They're fun and curious, beautiful and affordable, as well as very collectible. And the trend of subjecting literary and children's classics to "paper engineering" keeps growing. Memorable recent examples include Matthew Reinhart's interpretation of The Jungle Book, his frequent collaborator Robert Sabuda's The Chronicles of Narnia, and Peter Pan: A Classic Collectible Pop-Up (see, it even says it's collectible in the title), as well as Sam Ita's pop-up edition of Moby Dick, and Dr. Seuss's Horton Hears a Who--brought into the third dimension by David A. Carter. Frankly, I was surprised and a bit annoyed to learn that The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's enchanting, yet profound work of philosophy for readers of every age, had been "popped." It is already illustrated with tender watercolors by de Saint-Exupéry himself. What could pop-up illustrations possibly add? I'm not French, so it isn't my cultural patrimony at stake here, but the very idea of a pop-edition of this particular book felt kinda gauche.
In this case, tinkering with the classic illustrations (but not the text!) was just the thing. Thankfully, the pop-edition includes the complete, original text. The book's designers have managed to amplify the original illustrations without sacrificing their quiet integrity and lyricism. None of the purposeful naivete of the author's soft colors and swooshing, windblown scarves is lost. Elements from the story's deserted landscape are given a bit of a lift here and there, and animated with just the right degree of movement when the pages are turned and otherwise manipulated. The same is true of the figure of the Little Prince himself, who is enlarged in scale and projected off the page in ways that make the reader rediscover the relationship between the pilot who falls out of the sky and his surroundings. Reading the pop-up edition of The Little Prince is a bit like retreading familiar terrain, and discovering something very unexpected. Although, the gem-like format of the smaller original edition has given way to a larger format, the new pop-up edition looks and feels like a paper album that the reader will want to treasure, and return to repeatedly. You can get a sense of the size of the book and its interior in the very charming video introduction on the Amazon product page.
Recommended for fans of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's writing, and pop-up books like David Pelham's Trail: Paper Poetry Pop-Up.
--Lauren
Christine L. Rice on October 14, 2009 at 05:41 AM
Lauren,
I was glad to read your eloquent and honest review, especially regarding the pop-up edition of The Little Prince. I recall reading that book in AP French class in high school - Le Petit Prince - tres magnifique!
I adore pop-up books and have some tucked away for my daughter once she is old enough to know not to rip them. They are special. I also like the scratch-n-sniff books - are those coming back, too?