In Mommy? A Pop-Up Book we follow a young boy dressed in blue pajamas in search for his mother. Along his journey he meets a variety of monsters whom he must defeat in order to continue his quest. Of course these monsters are all very surprised by this strange encounter but they don’t seem to make any impression on this little kid at all… Is the boy not afraid? Not a bit! He only wants his mommy.
Mommy? A Pop-Up Book is available at Amazon
Mommy? is a stylized and unique pop-up book that features 6 wonderful pop-up spreads, each with a gatefold pop-up at the right-hand side of the page. Because of it’s relatively minor size, the large pop-up spreads will completely amaze you when you open the book’s pages. The illustrations are very detailed and vibrant, and together with the paper engineering skills from Matthew Reinhart monsters are popping out of the book in any possible direction!
The book has practically no words or story except for the question “mommy?”. Thanks to Maurice Sendak’s beautiful artwork the illustrations tell the story like no words can do. We all know Maurice Sendak from his beloved “Where the Wild Things Are” and this collabaration with Arthur Yorinks and paper engineer Matthew Reinhart, Mommy? is the first and only pop-up book title featuring his brilliant artwork.
We’ve asked Matthew Reinhart about his collaboration with Maurice Sendak.
Matthew Reinhart:
Working with Maurice Sendak and Arthur Yorinks was a little daunting at first, but they both treated me as an equal. Despite his sometimes salty persona, Maurice was a wonderful collaborator and became a friend. Initially, Maurice wasn’t going to make any new art for the book. I was told to pop-up and articulate these color sketches of classic monsters taken from a children’s opera he and Arthur had already produced. Maurice changed his mind after a while, though, and decided to make brand-new obscenely detailed artwork. There just weren’t ways to manipulate his original sketches that would look good or match the crazy paper engineering I was making. Frankly, I think he was inspired to do some crazy stuff himself. the book took time, though, because, well, it’s Maurice Sendak! He had a lot on his plate at the time, as I recall. It took almost 4 years to complete and totally worth the wait! Maurice made magic again!
Matthew Reinhart has sent us some unique images and footage of the development creating this pop-up book. Below you’ll find short animations from concept to the final result of the last spread. Click the thumbnails to view the animation.
Image credits: Matthew Reinhart
This pop-up book is perfect to read together with toddlers and younger children but really, anyone will enjoy this funny little story. Mommy? will also be a perfect gift for the lovers of monster stories and not to forget pop-up book collectors!
Paper engineering: Matthew Reinhart
Illustrated by Maurice Sendak
Written by Arthur Yorinks
Published by Scholastic
More Matthew Reinhart pop-up books
8.1
Adorable!
Our review
This pop-up book is perfect to read together with children but really, anyone will enjoy this funny little story.
