Robert Sabuda

Author profile

born

in Pinckney, Michigan, The United States

March 08, 1965

gender

male

website

http://www.robertsabuda.com

genre

Children's Books

influences

Vojtech Kubasta

About this author

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"With the ability to hold a crayon came the discovery that I was an artist," says pop-up book master Robert Sabuda. "I spent hours, days and weeks drawing, painting, cutting and gluing. My bedroom was a constant whirlwind of pencil shavings, drippy paint brushes and mounds of paper scraps. My mother's pleas of 'When are you going to CLEAN UP this mess?!' went unanswered."

Robert Sabuda says that reading was very important in his family and promoted at every opportunity. His mother had a local dancing school where Robert Sabuda says he, "Tap danced away my spare time and first experienced the art of visual storytelling."

At school, Robert Sabuda says his teachers asked him to create their bulletin boards because they knew how much he loved ar...more "With the ability to hold a crayon came the discovery that I was an artist," says pop-up book master Robert Sabuda. "I spent hours, days and weeks drawing, painting, cutting and gluing. My bedroom was a constant whirlwind of pencil shavings, drippy paint brushes and mounds of paper scraps. My mother's pleas of 'When are you going to CLEAN UP this mess?!' went unanswered."

Robert Sabuda says that reading was very important in his family and promoted at every opportunity. His mother had a local dancing school where Robert Sabuda says he, "Tap danced away my spare time and first experienced the art of visual storytelling."

At school, Robert Sabuda says his teachers asked him to create their bulletin boards because they knew how much he loved art. "This was the first time I discovered that paper could be used for more than just drawing and painting on," he recalls. "I covered the bulletin boards with cut-paper collages. At home I started to fold and glue paper together to make little model houses. But the best discovery was when I folded together many pieces of paper, stapled them down the middle and created a book. I immediately began making books of all sizes filled with simple stories and happy pictures."

Robert Sabuda's passion for books took an unexpected twist after a trip to a new dentist. Scared and nervous, he says he noticed a wicker basket filled with books and he began to look at them while he waited. "I went to the basket and realized right away that these books were special," he says. "I opened the first one and was shocked and delighted when something leapt right off the page. It was a pop-up book! I was so excited, I forgot all about the dentist."

Shortly after that, Robert Sabuda says his mother brought home some old manila filing folders from work. He discovered that the folders were perfect for making pop-ups. After spending time examining the numerous pop-up books he was given as presents, he was soon able to make his own simple pop-ups. After graduating from high school, Robert Sabuda left Michigan and headed to New York City to study art at Pratt Institute. While at Pratt, he did an internship at Dial Books for Young Readers. "I learned everything about how a children's book is created, but more importantly I fetched the mail," he says. "I'm sure this may not seem very exciting but it is when the mail you're opening is original artwork from Barbara Cooney, Thomas Locker and James Marshall! I decided then and there that I would be a children's book illustrator."

After graduating from Pratt, Robert Sabuda says he went from one children's publishing house to another, showing his work and trying to get an illustrating project. Finally, he began to receive very small jobs illustrating coloring books (based on popular movie characters like Rambo!). Eventually these jobs led to other book projects, and slowly he discovered that he was a children's book illustrator. He began to write his own stories and illustrate those as well. He says, "Picture books were wonderful, but I always hoped that one day I could create a pop-up book, too. So I pulled out my old pop-up books and taught myself how to make even better ones as a grown up."

Today, Robert Sabuda works in his studio in New York City, which he shares with his partner, children's book creator Matthew Reinhart. "We love making books," he says. "It's hard work, but the best part is not having to worry about making a mess. When being an artist is your job, you can make as many messes as you want to!"

Robert Sabuda is the creator of many breathtaking and best-selling pop-up books, including ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND, THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ, AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL, and most recently the Encyclopedia Prehistorica trilogy: ENCYCLOPEDIA PREHISTORICA: DINOSAURS, ENCYCLOPEDIA PREHISTORICA: SHARKS AND OTHER SEA MONSTERS AND ENCYCLOPEDIA PREHISTORICA: MEGA-BEASTS.
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Average rating: 4.32 · 9,698 ratings · 523 reviews · 56 distinct works · Similar authors

	Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: A Pop-Up Adaptation by Robert Sabuda (Adaptor, Illustrator), Lewis Carroll 4.32 of 5 stars 4.32 avg rating — 5,879 ratings — published 2003 — 2 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Chronicles of Narnia Pop-up: Based on the Books by C. S. Lewis by Robert Sabuda, C.S. Lewis, Matthew S. Armstrong 4.3 of 5 stars 4.30 avg rating — 495 ratings — published 1999 — 4 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz by Robert Sabuda, L. Frank Baum 4.43 of 5 stars 4.43 avg rating — 541 ratings — published 2000 — 3 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The 12 Days of Christmas: A Pop-Up Celebration 4.29 of 5 stars 4.29 avg rating — 394 ratings — published 1996 — 4 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Winter's Tale: An Original Pop-up Journey 4.31 of 5 stars 4.31 avg rating — 220 ratings — published 2005 — 3 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Dinosaurs by Robert Sabuda, Matthew Reinhart (Goodreads Author) 4.51 of 5 stars 4.51 avg rating — 214 ratings — published 2005 — 4 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	America the Beautiful: America the Beautiful 4.57 of 5 stars 4.57 avg rating — 136 ratings — published 2004 — 2 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sharks And Other Sea Monsters by Robert Sabuda, Matthew Reinhart (Goodreads Author) 4.48 of 5 stars 4.48 avg rating — 141 ratings — published 2006 — 3 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Christmas Alphabet 4.42 of 5 stars 4.42 avg rating — 126 ratings — published 1994 — 3 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Cookie Count: A Tasty Pop-up 4.23 of 5 stars 4.23 avg rating — 109 ratings — published 1997 — 2 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Robert Sabuda…

Series by Robert Sabuda

Encyclopedia Prehistorica (3 books)
by Robert Sabuda, Matthew Reinhart (Goodreads Author)
4.485458612975392 of 5 stars 4.49 avg rating — 447 ratings

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topics	posts	views	last activity
Children's Books: History of Pop-Up Books (with pictures!)	17	68	Mar 27, 2012 06:26am
readers advisory ...: Horse books/authors for 2nd and 4th grade girls	16	49	Aug 27, 2012 03:44pm
You'll love this ...: Almeta's 'tober Toppler	112	61	Oct 22, 2012 06:37pm

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Robert Sabuda

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Robert's Fans (37)

Robert Sabuda

Author profile

combine editionsRobert Sabuda's Books

Series by Robert Sabuda

Upcoming Events

Topics Mentioning This Author

Add New
Videos

combine editions
Robert Sabuda's Books