Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0689840195, Hardcover)

New York's Brooklyn is a wondrous composite of legends and history. Settled in 1636, Brooklyn has attracted a wide variety of ethnic groups over the centuries, and the resulting diversity in style and culture gives Brooklyn a flavor all its own. Brooklyn Pops Up was created to celebrate the special spirit of this place. From the Brooklyn Bridge to the Grand Army Plaza to Coney Island, a dozen illustrators and paper engineers such as Maurice Sendak, Robert Sabuda, Carla Dijs, and David A. Carter bring the magic of Brooklyn to vibrant life. Giant green leaves in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden fold back to reveal happy frolicking critters--a honey-sucking bee, a nut-nibbling squirrel, and several hide-and-seeking children. The Prospect Park Carousel bursts out of the pages, with ecstatic children riding marvelously decorated horses. Even the cover boasts an interactive scene by Sendak; readers slide a flap from side to side to make famous Brooklynite Walt Whitman emerge from his own book, while two children clutch it affectionately. Each two-page spread includes a few paragraphs about the subject at hand: Learn the strange, ill-fated history of the building of the Brooklyn Bridge. Discover how the beautiful, quintessential Brooklyn brownstones came into existence.

Whether from Brooklyn or Borneo, readers will enjoy lifting flaps and popping open pages in order to visit this city of stories. (Ages 5 to 8) --Emilie Coulter