Colors: My First Pop-Up!

by Matthew Reinhart, Ekaterina Trukhan (Illustrations)

Introducing My First Pop-Up , the first concept book in the interactive Pop Magic series, an exciting line of preschool books from pop-up wizard Matthew Reinhart and illustrator Ekaterina Trukhan that makes learning fun!

A stunning, hands-on exploration of colors for the very youngest readers! Pull a tab so yellow ducklings pop up to the surface of the pond, lift a flap to reveal a blue whale, and open the final spread for a big pop-up rainbow surprise!

Bestselling paper engineer Matthew Reinhart brings his creative genius to this innovative preschool pop-up, connecting basic concepts to interactive elements that will delight and inform little ones with every page.

12 pages, Board Book

Published May 11, 2021

About the author

Matthew Christian Reinhart was born September 21, 1971 to Gary and Judith Reinhart in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The son of a farmer, his father Gary joined the Navy and so the family moved around the country, from Florida to Texas to Illinois to California to Virginia and then South Carolina. Judith and Matthew followed along, and soon to be joined by his little sister, Erin.

Art was always a huge part of Matthew Reinhart’s young life. Drawing pictures and making crafts were his favorite activities, in school and out. Matthew drew whenever and wherever he got the chance; in fact, school notebooks often had more drawings than notes! He loved drawing and reading about all creatures and animals so much, he drew them everywhere!

After high school, chose to study biology in preparation for medical school, thinking a career in art was too far-fetched. College life at Clemson University in South Carolina was busy for Matthew, but he was never really satisfied. Medicine was not his true calling, so along with his required science classes, Matthew took various art courses to build up his portfolio.

After graduating college, moved to New York City for a year before starting medical school. There, he met acclaimed children’s book author Robert Sabuda doing volunteer work together for a local community center. Robert's book, Christmas Alphabet had just released to rave reviews, and he convinced Matthew to follow his true calling. The following year, Matthew attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. as an industrial design major (concentrating in toy design).

Pratt was fantastic experience for him, but his initial dreams of being a toy designer soon transformed into paper engineer. After working with Robert on books like The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, A B C Disney and Movable Mother Goose. Matthew made his first big break into the pop-up world with The Pop Up Book Of Phobias. Many books collaborations have followed, including a trilogy of New York Times best-selling Encyclopedia Prehistorica and the following series Encyclopedia Mythologica with Robert Sabuda, along with Mommy?, co-authored with the renowned Maurice Sendak and Brava Strega Nona with the ageless Tomie DePaola. His solo pop-up books include The Ark, Animal Popposites, The Jungle Book, Cinderella, The Pop-Up Book of Nursery Rhymes, and STAR WARS: Pop-Up Guide to the Galaxy. He continues to work and live in New York City, cutting, taping and folding paper into pop-up masterpieces.

Reviews

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

First sentence: My favorite color is red. It's ladybugs and cherries, lobsters and berries.

Premise/plot: What do you need to know about this one? It's a concept board book--the concept being colors. It's for toddlers who are careful with books or preschoolers who don't mind revisiting colors. It has some pop-ups thought not for each spread. There are some additional interactions--tabs to pull, flaps to lift, etc. The text is simple and predictable.

My thoughts: To be honest, I felt that some of the features were a little too hard to manipulate properly. I get the idea that things weren't moving as smoothly as they should to get the full effect of the illustrations. In particular I had a horrible time with the duck pop-up. And the frog pop-up was difficult as well. Though to be fair, once I did eventually get the frog to jump out of the log, it stayed unstuck. Maybe I just didn't work hard enough to get the ducks swimming properly.

I think this one should probably be a supervised activity unless you just don't care how long the book lasts. But the book retails at close to $15 so I'm just not sure why you would buy the book (at least full price) if your little one tends to be rough at handling books. I think there are probably better books if you're looking just for a good, solid books about colors.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I love the artwork, text, and vivid colors in this book, I have two problems with it. The first is that purple is not included, which bums me out because I love purple, but I could overlook it if not for the second problem, which is that this book doesn't function well for its target audience. The pop-ups are just... slightly thicker-than-normal paper?... for tiny humans who are still learning colors, which also means they are probably still learning to use their hands and grip things properly. I can't let my son touch this book because he'll rip the pop-ups instantly. And two of the pop-ups don't even work that well; the ducks and the frog are kind of tricky to manipulate and get back into place. Was this book tested out on some babies and toddlers before it went to print? It doesn't seem like it.

[Big · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute book-green didn’t make it past the first reading. Who is this for?

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful, interactive concept book but some of it seems quite fragile for preschooler hands.

[Kathryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty but pop up parts were confusing and did not work well