Alice in Wonderland

This is an unusual combination of snippets of original text from Lewis Carroll's 1865 publication transformed into a striking bold pop-up picture book which will capture the attention of the youngest children. It sounds a little odd put like this: however this wild and whimsical approach with its off-beat and slightly crazy comical pictures rather suits the curiouser and curiouser nature of the classic.
It's an ambitious undertaking, to take just a tiny fraction of the original words (3% at my reckoning; less than 1000 words as opposed to more than 30,000) and team it with only seven pop-up scenes and yet still convey the essential essence and flavour of the story. Given this impossibly tall order, Otto Seibold has performed a miracle - this book it is masterfully done.
Inevitably there are whole tracts and episodes missed out, such as the caucus race and the pool of tears, so the seven settings are as follows:
The riverbank
Falling down the rabbit hole
In the rabbit's house and The caterpillar
The duchess's kitchen and The Cheshire cat
The mad hatters tea party (with a lovely peep-through into the Queen's garden)
The croquet match
Finally the court scene.
The use of text from the original leaves the narrative rather disjointed and each turn of the page, whilst a visual surprise and wonder, is generally accompanied by a leap straight into the middle of an entirely new scenario. However given the wacky nature of Alice's adventure in the original, this isn't a problem and my children don't seem to notice.
Each of the scenes has a striking pop up and additional tabs/flap or similar, and a little care needs to be taken with the pages to prevent damage, especially as young readers/listeners are likely to be exuberant in their handling. My children 3,5, and 7 all sit and listen together, and they particularly love the pull-down tab for the disappearing Cheshire cat (leaving the smile behind) and the clever and convincing transformation of the baby into the pig.
Just one suggestion for improvement in the next edition - the font in which the text is in-keepingly curious but quite tricky to read.
A wonderous version of Wonderland, suitable from 3+ and will still be delighting children of 8, and 88.

Seibold's Beautiful Wonderland (4/4 people found this helpful)

This is a beautifully constructed pop-up book and although obviously the story has been cut down a lot, it still contains original Lewis Carroll text and is a great buy.
Kids and adults will have fun discovering all the little flaps and hidden creatures as Alice makes her bizarre journey through Wonderland.

Most importantly, J.Otto Seibold makes this story look how it should: weird, strange, quirky and funny. If you look at the original Tenniel pictures, Alice's Wonderland wasn't a cutesy comforting place like some modern editions depict it. I do not agree (with some who have said) that the strange illustrations often used for this story isolate children. Nonsense. Children need a variety of styles to feed their imaginations and Alice is one of the most imaginative books they are ever going to read, so why dilute it with the pretty faces and fluffy bunnies that are found in 99% of children's illustrations today? It makes no sense, let this story do what it was intended to do and let children see it as something different and exciting.
I think adults forget that children are far more open to craziness and quizzical illustrations than we give them credit for.

Pop Up Magic (9/9 people found this helpful)

J.Otto has worked his magic yet again, this time on the ever classic Alice in Wonderland, and for good measure in Pop Up Style! I opened this and brought it on seeing the first page. Now not really being a fan of Pop Up Books, this knocked my stripy green socks right off! Page after page of inventiveness made even a harsh critic of kids books such as myself, weep with joy and pleasure.With so many flaps to open and tags to pull, it really is a visual treat. The character designs are amazing, J.Ottos colours are a real suprise as well, previously something that was lacking in his earlier works.This is a book you can keep picking up, and is a joy to flick through every time. The only downside is the Story, it being a truncated version of the original Lewis Carroll Classic. Personally i wouldn't have complained if he'd illustrated the entire text in Pop Up form and to get it home i'd have needed to hire a pick-up truck. There aren't many illustrators that would get such treatment from me, J.Otto is one of them. Go buy now!!!

Lewis Carroll

Reader Reviews:

A bright, stylized and contemporary version of the classic, presented in a pop-up picture book. Wow! (1/2 people found this helpful)

Seibold's Beautiful Wonderland (4/4 people found this helpful)

Pop Up Magic (9/9 people found this helpful)

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