As a kid, I only ever owned one pop-up book. It made a huge impression on me – one that would not resurface until much later in my life. All kids love dinosaurs, and that’s what my only pop-up book was all about. I was one of those kids who knew WAY too much about those prehistoric beasties – annoyingly correcting every adult who dared mispronounce their names.

Pretty cool book – right? It inspired me to create my own series of prehistoric pop-ups, the Encyclopedia Prehistorica series (Dinosaurs, Sharks & Sea Monsters, and Megabeasts).

My memories of this book are much different than what you all see in these pictures. My little sister Erin (who was 2 years old at the time) also enjoyed this book a great deal. Let’s just say that all of the pop-up dinosaurs inside also went extinct – she tore the book to pieces! Now I have a new copy of Dinosaurs: A Pop-Up Book – and my little sister or Lilly (my brand-new niece) will never get their mitts on it!

Today we are looking at some very rare Italian pop-up activity books. Ever since I was given “Cappuccetto Russo” and “I Tre Porcellini” I have been curious about this series of handmade DIY pop-up books. So I went to the source, the Bologna-based paper engineer, Massimo Missiroli. He was kind enough to provide some background on these books which he started in 1997.

The titles include:

Red Riding Hood (1997) illustrated by Zampiga Milena
Three Little Pigs (1998) illustrated by Silvia Bartoletti
Pinocchio
Nursery Rhymes
Snow White
Hansel & Gretel

Each title has different dimensions and comprise of a number of black and white printed sheets that are sealed in a plastic bag. A rough translation of the promotional material is as follows:

“POP-UP stripe is a new series of cards in which we intend to show operational techniques for the construction of mini-books that will have classic fairy tales as their subject. Build each pop-up book which consists of five pages on a single folded strip of paper.”

Massimo came up with the idea while leading pop-up workshops with children. He decided to start his own small publishing company. Then he created and assembled the packets and sold the Pop-up Stripes via mail orders. Around 2002, the Italian publisher Quercetti bought the concept and released new versions of Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs and Pinocchio. At that time, Massimo published a wonderful pop-up version of Pinocchio for Emme Edizioni.

Our friend Courtney Watson McCarthy brings M.C. Escher’s graphic art into pop-up 3D splendor in this beautiful coffee table book from BlueRed Press Ltd (2011). The book includes descriptions of the artwork and quotes from Escher himself.

Human Body: An Interactive Guide to the Inner Workings of the Body by Steve Parker (Barron’s 2008) has fantastic photos, illustrations, pull-tabs, pop-ups and other interactive features (engineered by Alan Brown and Zerina White). There’s a lot to discover here for kids of all ages. I liked opening the skull with the brain inside!

Here at the studio we’re always looking for new pop up books, and I have to say we’re very excited for Carol Barton’s newest book, The Pocket Paper Engineer, Volume 3: V-Folds! Ms. Barton has created many pop up books and instructional pop up books that I recommend to people who want to learn more about making pop ups.

This third volume deals with V-Folds and how to create and integrate them into your pop ups.  This book is filled with tutorials and has ten do-it-yourself projects that are inside the book!  You can check out more about this book and order it on Ms. Barton’s website.