My Pop-Up Body Book is a large format, magnificently-produced book (why aren’t paper engineers credited in books?) that will entrance any age. I know I was fighting off the kids during my internal tour… and I use the term ‘internal’ in multiplicity, because this book is truly a journey inside… inside the body.
This book is quite remarkably interactive. From the cover, where kids can rotate a wheel and glimpse the skeletal and organ insides of a little boy, to the amazing pop-up skeleton on the last page – each page-opening invites a mass of exploration. There are tabs, wheels, lift-the-flaps, pop-ups – and not only that – many of these elements can be further explored, with multi-layered effects like the heart that actually beats.
Kids can witness the growth of a baby in a womb by rotating a wheel. They can quite literally take the face off a child and peek inside at bone, muscle and brain. They can chomp teeth, pull [paper] snot from nostrils, matching emotions with pictures, vibrate the hammer, anvil and stirrup inside an ear, expand some lungs, open up a rib cage, unfold a tummy full of guts, and of course… learn learn learn.
There’s info on each and every area of the body – how food gets transported and absorbed, how muscles work, what skin looks like close up and even a fascinating section on wee and poo.
If all this is sounding a tad gross to you, fear not. The cartoonish illustrations are just gorgeous and the book is beautifully done – informative and educational without resorting to schlock. And the facts and figures are not only totally age-appropriate and therefore memorable, they are presented in ways kids will love to explore and more readily retain.
Intensely creative and fascinating, be prepared to jostle the family for a peek inside. Literally.
Title: My Pop-Up Body Book
Author: Will Petty
Publication Date: 1 September 2010
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781406317923
For ages: 5+
Type: Picture Book
