Phenomenal Pop Up - Unique in that it has additional pop ups within Pop up Pages

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I've only just come out of the pop-up book closet, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say I've found the best pop-up books out there. The first one being Encyclopedia Prehistorica: Dinosaurs.

This pop up book is extravagant; there's no other word for it. Most pop up books save the best for last, a grand finale on the last page to leave you with a "wow" at the end. Every page of this book is a grand finale page. If the center image doesn't impress (although I can't imagine why it wouldn't), each page spread has small inset pages, and these contain pop up images too; of of these inset pages have more pages with more pop ups in them.

The intricate and sometimes delicate construction of these pages, as well as the writing, seems geared towards an older child, say 10-12 years old. The writing is informative, and there are pronunciation guides for each of the dinosaurs. Best of all, at the end, the authors devote an inset mini-book to why the dinosaurs disappeared; they offer several of the prevailing theories without giving weight to one over the other, ending with we don't know why they disappeared for certain. Responsible writing - I love it.

My only complaint is that each of those mini pages are held down with a photo-corner type thing. They do need to be held down, and I can't think of a better way to do it, but the corners require the reader to slightly bend the pages to get them in and out; over time and use, that's going to weaken the paper.

Saying that though, I can't recommend this book too much; it's fabulous. Kids and adults alike will find something to ooh and ahh over. MT has already asked if he could take it to work to show the guys; admittedly he is in the printing business but I don't think there's anyone out there that won't find much here to be impressed with. ( )

I thought this book was enjoyable to look at. It was chock full of information, and the pop ups made it interesting, I was expecting this to read more like a story book, but it reads like an encyclopedia. Which I think might be a little difficult for a child to understand.

At 12 pages you wouldn't think this is very dense... but the artistry of Sabuda & Reinhart's pop ups more than make up for page count, especially with the number of fold out bits on several pages. With a publication date of 2005, some information is potentially outdated ("Some experts think that birds are dinosaurs" when consensus by 2017 is that they are, the plausible revival of Brontosaurus as a genus, etc.) but otherwise a genuinely lovely work.

Even if you don't have kids, it's a more-than-excellent coffee table book/ice breaker. ( )