Today I learned that legendary children’s book creator, Maurice Sendak, passed away at the age of 83.  Most readers grew up sharing an adventure with Max and the Wild Things.  Many people visited his beloved Night Kitchen, and pop-up folks lined up for one of the 500,000 first edition copies of Mommy.  I had the great privilege to work with Matthew Reinhart on Maurice’s first pop-up book, released in 2006.  Due to Sendak’s schedule and various production hurdles, the creation of this pop-up book lasted a few years.  It was always exciting when Reinhart would return from Maurice’s house in Connecticut with an arm full of new art.  Maurice always complained that creating the art “was not a lot of fun…I felt as though I had been put in an old-age home and the nurses had given me a project, and I found myself wishing that they had given me a basket to weave instead.”  Once the book was finally completed, Maurice admitted to being impressed.  Maurice was always grumbling or displaying some of his dark humor and Reinhart or Sabuda would often share stories of visits with the beloved curmudgeon.  His recent interview with Stephen Colbert was a very funny and accurate portrayal of Sendak.

I was supposed to meet Maurice during the Eric Carle Honors ceremony in 2008, but he was unable to attend for health reasons.  Instead they showed a great video clip from the Rosenbach Museum.  My favorite part starts at minute 5:30 and we were all cracking up by the end of the segment.

Besides Mickey Mouse and Mozart, few knew that Sendak had a great fondness for Lothar Meggendorfer and collected many of his books.  He has written about his admiration of these movable books in various publications and Maurice’s involvement with Brooklyn Pops-up was a great source of pride on all sides.

After Mommy was released Maurice turned his attention to the film adaptation of his most celebrated book, Where the Wild Things Are, another project that was long in the making.  I remember hearing that Maurice laughed when he learned that children were crying during an early test screening of the fearsome Wild Things, but director Spike Jonze was also able to capture some of his more tender moments during the production of concurrent documentary “Tell Them Anything You Want” and I think that is where we should leave off for today.

Goodbye Maurice.  Thank you for the wild ride.

~Kyle

Last week was a memorable one as I visited the beautiful city of Bologna to attend the major Children’s Book Fair.  After a touchy flight and an extended bus “tour”, I made it to our lovely rented apartment east of town. (Note for next year, hotel rooms are booked up six months in advance!) Following a nice evening out, we prepared for our meetings.  Tuesday and Wednesday were a blur of conversations as U.K.-based paper engineer Michael Caputo and I met with numerous publishers, packagers, printers and paper engineers. (That’s a lot of P’s.)  In between our appointments, we had a chance to walk the half dozen cavernous halls and visit most of the one thousand exhibitors from around the world.  There was a great showcase of illustrators from Portugal that provided some get inspiration.  We noticed many booths with pop-up books and other novelty items.  There were presentations about digital e-books and apps.  Panel discussions with authors and artists continued through the day.  I was able to see lots of familiar faces and shake hands with many new folks, some of whom I hope to mention in future posts.  Fueled by tasty gelato, our evenings lasted well into the night as visitors and exhibitors blew off steam and celebrated publishing deals at venues like the sWine Bar.  On our last night in town, we had a pop-up dinner where six paper engineers sat down to a delicious Italian meal and joked that if the restaurant was destroyed that half the world’s pop-up makers would be wiped out.  It was a great evening of food, fun and fellowship.  I managed to squeeze about four hours of sightseeing before my flight home and toured the old center, climbed the 100 meter tall Asinelli tower, caught a great show on children books, and visited the fascinating natural history museum at the Palazzo Poggi.

My time was all to brief in Bologna, but I was grateful to meet so many interesting people that are so passionate about bringing new and exciting children’s books to the bookshelves.  I am exhausted and more importantly inspired by what I saw in Italy.  Now, it’s time to act on that inspiration and make some fun pop-ups!

~Kyle

In less than two weeks I will be traveling to Italy to go to the ‘big show’.  Yep, it’s that time of the year folks, when thousands of publishers, agents, authors, illustrators and other industry types head to the Bologna Children’s Book Fair.  Often considered the biggest annual event for children’s books, this is the place to be for buying and selling publishing rights for books.  I will be flying there with an international squadron of elite paper engineers to see what new trends are surfacing and show off some of the goodies I have been creating the past few months.  I am very excited to reconnect with some folks and looking forward to meeting some fresh faces during the endless succession of 5-minute meetings.  So if you are in Bologna on March 19-22 and find yourself weary after strolling the aisles gawking at some of the 1200 exhibitors, drop me a message and I’ll meet you at the gelato line (behind 4000 other guests).  Viva Bologna!

~Kyle

I have been working my way through a translation of Arabian Nights; getting lost in the tangle of ancient stories woven over a thousand and one nights.  As a Western reader, I have found it difficult to appreciate this revered collection and its unfamiliar patterns of storytelling.  I think that is why I have a certain love for this featured pop-up book, which singles out one of the more beloved stories from the intertwining tales.

In the early 1960’s, the British publishers Bancroft and Co. teamed up with the massive state-owned publishing house Artia, based out of Prague to create a series of colorful pop-up books based on the Arabian Nights.  Two illustrators, Frantisek Sklar and Jaroslav Beza came together to create vibrant renditions of these classic tales, but little is known about the collaboration or these artists.

Today, we are looking at The Fisherman and the Demon printed in Czechoslovakia in 1960.  This hardcover landscape format book has two large pop-ups with simple pull tabs that serve as the front and rear endpapers with a six page color booklet bound inside.  The paper engineering is very simple box layers with expressive artwork in line with Kubasta, who was creating books with Artia at the time.  There is no record of who did the pop-up design for this series, so we must assume that there was someone creating it in-house for Artia.  I won’t go into much detail about the storyline, but I feel that buoyed by the wonderful art, this story stands up on its own.  Now I have to keep my eye out for Sinbad, Aladdin and Ali Baba to complete my collection.

~Kyle

Tomorrow is a big day here at the studio.  Matthew Reinhart’s newest pop-up books will be released to bookstores across the world!

Puppies, Kittens and Other Pop-up Pets pairs fun rhymes with big bold pop-ups and pull tabs.  Young readers will get to learn about six different pets that you would find at home.

Rescue: Pop-up Emergency Vehicles shows you five different rescue vehicles and the heroes that operate them to help save the day.

This new pop-up series features Reinhart’s colorful cut-paper collage across five spreads.  The 8-inch square softcover books are made from thicker glossy paper and were designed specifically for curious little hands.  For many years, we have wanted to create simpler books for a younger reader and we are excited that the day has finally come when we can offer that you for under $7.  So get to your favorite booksellers to order your copies today!

~Kyle

Love is in the air around the studio so I thought I would feature another antique valentine.  Like most mass-market valentine cards, this little guy speaks for itself.  Which is a good thing, since I have no information on this piece.  Measuring 3” wide by 5” tall this Valentine is a typical of the cards constructed in the early 1900’s.  It is diecut out of one piece of stiff card and appears to be chromolithography.  The mechanic is the standard single box layer, in this case of a creepy kid with a flower wreath bearing the label “Love’s Joy”. The child with the pageboy haircut and piercing eyes is kneeling before the viewer in front of what appears to be an arch or upside down horseshoe of hearts.  Below the text reads, “There’s no escape my Valentine.  I have your Heart and you have mine.”

A little spooky right?  On the reverse we find that the pop-up has been patched but can still read the inscription: “To Margaret Munden. From Pearl Ganes.”  Looks like Pearl practiced in pencil before moving to the blue fountain pen.  I was excited to receive this card, but I always wondered how Margaret felt about the sentiment in this love token

~Kyle

I recently learned about the fanciful artist and architect, Friedensreich Hundertwasser and his various creations like the Green Citadel.  I also learned that he took part in Luna Luna Park in Hamburg, Germany back in 1986.  Luna Luna was the brainchild of the equally interesting Andre Heller and was a traveling combination of a contemporary art park and a “child’s dream” of an amusement park. Heller invited famous artists of different generations to participate. Salvador Dali, Jean Tinguely, Jim Whiting and Roy Lichtenstein created special installations. Younger Americans Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, and Kenny Scharf, along with several German neo-expressionist painters decorated children’s rides.  Seeing Haring listed here reminded me of a special pop-up.

Of interest to us today is the pop-up folio that celebrates the colorful carousel created by Keith Haring for Luna Luna.  This 12” x 12” single spread pop-up was paper engineered by Ron van der Meer and produced in 1986 by Carvajal in Columbia.  The edition is rumored to be around 2000 so this pop-up is a rare breed to come across.  Equally scare is information on Luna Luna Park and it’s success.  Nonetheless, I would have loved to visit this avant-garde carnival and hope that one day I can at the very least own a pop-up artifact from this bizarre wonderland.

~Kyle

The Wizards of Pop Exhibition has made it to Houston, Texas and this weekend starts off a series of fun activities celebrating the show.  Stop by the Children’s Museum of Houston to see 80 images from 16 books created by Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart.  Then stick around to make your own pop-up cards or pop your own bubbles in activity centers.

The Wizards of Pop exhibit premiered at the NCCIL in May 2009.  It recently made a stop at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art and will be off to the Noel Art Museum in September.  And if your in the Houston area you have until August 28^th to take the kids down for some fun.

~Kyle

Last weekend Harry Potter began dominating the movie theaters and it was all that folks talked about at work.  Now San Diego Comic Con is starting up this weekend and the office is getting excited to take part.  So it only seemed fitting that I pick to showcase the talents of Brittney Lee.

This California based paper cutter came to my attention via the great blog, Dude Craft.  Her recent tributes to Harry Potter are excellent and the more I viewed her past projects I more impressed I was with her skills.  She will be at the comic convention this weekend sharing her new book of work so if you like what you see stop by and say hi.

~Kyle