ANNOTATION

Pulling tabs transforms the spare, bright pages of My Pop-Up Surprise ABC and My Pop-Up Surprise 123 by Robert Crowther. In ABC, flipping the flap marked "dog" makes the revealed dog's jaws clamp down on a bone; lifting "moon" creates a starry 3-D night scene; pulling another tab makes a sun rise from behind the page. The format of 123 is similarly varied: six spiders appear, one dangling from the dotted "i" of the word "six"; the lids of seven separate boxes (housed under one big "seven" flap) each open to reveal a gift.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

This exciting counting book is bright, bold, and bursting with action--while perfectly attuned to the developmental needs of the very young. Each number is expressed in several ways--as a numeral, a word, and as part of a one-to-one correspondence. Full color.

FROM THE CRITICS

School Library Journal

PreS-KSmall fingers will have no problems with the large, easily manipulated flaps and pull tabs in these two offerings from a pioneering paper engineer. In ABC, Crowther puts two pop-ups on each page, one per letter, hiding them behind flaps that double as labels: "apple," "bed," "car," etc. 123 is even simpler, counting to 10 with one large number per page. Both books are replete with visual punch lines delivered with cleverly used movement: flowers grow as the "garden" flap is lowered, the "pencil" leaves a blue line as it shortens, a different season lurks behind each of "4 doors." The author places a diminutive, slightly concealed robot into each of his cartoon scenes, and finishes both titles effectively with a panoramic visual recapitulation. The display type is in lower case only, and "5 aeroplanes" may require some translation on this side of the pond, but the author's gift for inventive design will add ranks of post-toddlers to his legions of older fans.John Peters, New York Public Library