The Pop-Up Book of Nightmares

by Gary Greenberg

illustrated by Balvis Rubess

pop-ups by Matthew Reinhart

(New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2001)

Hardcover, 22 Pages, Pop-Up

ISBN: 9780312282639, US$29.95

ABCD Rating: CHECK OUT

All your worst nightmares come true in this hilariously macabre pop-up book.

From the Cover: Forgetting to study for a final exam. Standing stark naked in front of thousands of spectators. Falling down a seemingly endless staircase. … This is the stuff of nightmares, and The Pop-Up Book of Nightmares puts you face to face with ten of your most unsettling dreams—while you’re wide awake.

My Review: So, yesterday I reviewed The Pop-Up Book of Phobias (the companion book to this one) and I told the story behind finding these books there, so rather than rehash that, I’m going to get straight to the point: The Pop-Up Book of Nightmares is inferior in every way (except for art and pop-ups) to The Pop-Up Book of Phobias.

There is none of the visceral and primal fear in this book that Phobias manages to elicit from the reader. My kids enjoyed this one … they did not like Phobias. Then there is the fact that this one is full of psycho-babble and pseudo-Freudian definitions of the symbols of dreams that sound like they come from Wikipedia. (I for one detest the knee-jerk Freudian interpretation of psychology and dreams; Freud was a pervert in my opinion … a very intelligent pervert … but a pervert nonetheless.)

Anyway, couple that with the fact that many of the nightmares just are not “scary,” per se and it all just falls flat … in spite of the fact that it is a pop-up book. This is not to say that it is not aesthetically pleasing … it is. The pop-ups and artwork are every bit as wonderful as Phobias (in fact, the only squirm-worthy entry in this book is the rats in the refrigerator under “Infestation”) but other than that, I would recommend you skip this one (maybe check it out at the library) and save your time and money for The Pop-Up Book of Phobias, you’ll have a much more rewarding reading experience with that book.

The Pop-Up Book of Phobias

by Gary Greenberg

illustrated by Balvis Rubess

pop-ups by Matthew Reinhart

(New York: Rob Weisbach Books, 1999)

Hardcover, 22 Pages, Pop-Up

ISBN: 9780688171957, US$29.95

ABCD Rating: BACKLIST

All your worst nightmares made frighteningly, hilariously real…

From the Cover: Fear of heights, fear of spiders, fear of flying, fear of death—everyone is afraid of something. And these pop-ups place you in the hot seat, whether it’s the dentist’s chair as the drill come spinning toward you; the edge of a skyscraper whose sheer face plummets hundreds of feet to the sidewalk below; or the window seat of a plane as the oxygen mask deploys, your drink spills, and the horizon shifts to an angle that is suddenly, terribly wrong. … Brought to life by outrageously macabre artwork and startlingly innovative pop-ups, The Pop-Up Book of Phobias is an engineering marvel and cult classic in the making—the perfect gift for every neurotic in your life.

My Review: I first came across this book (and its companion The Pop-Up Book of Nightmares (review to follow)) on the wonderful blog Judge a Book by its Cover. (I’ve mentioned Maughta’s blog here before, but it deserves mentioning again) Anyway, I have seen these books before, but never picked them up … at least not that I can remember. Perhaps I have blocked the experience from my memory? So I went straight to my local library’s website, was thrilled to see that they had them (though oddly, they did not carry The Pop-Up Book of Sex … I’ll let you Google that one … this is (ostensibly) a family blog) and so requested them immediately.

When I went to pick them up, the librarian laughed and said “Oh, we were having fun laughing over these when they came in. They’re great!” And really, what more can I say about this book then that? They really are great and actually are quit good and inducing a small amount of anxiety. My wife won’t even look at them and my pulse speeds up ever so slightly on the coulrophobia page.

The pop-ups are absolutely brilliant and the artwork is wonderful, and I think what is most amazing here is that no one thought of doing this before 1999. It is an ingenious idea and is a book that I recommend you find as soon as you can, you’ll be amazed what some strategically placed paper coming up out of a book at you can do.

A-Z Wednesday: The Manitou

A-Z Wednesday is hosted by Reading at the Beach.

Here are the rules: Go to your stack of books and find one whose title starts with the Letter of the Week and post the following:

1. A photo of the book
2. Title and synopsis
3. A link (Amazon, B&N, etc.)
4. Come back here and leave your link in the comments

If you’ve already reviewed this book, post a link to the review as well. Be sure to visit other participants to see what books they have posted and leave them a comment (we all love comments, don’t we?) Who know? You may find your next “favorite” book.

THIS WEEK’S LETTER IS: M

My “M” Book is:

The Manitou
by Graham Masterton

-Manitou Series, Book 1-

(New York: TOR Books, 1982)
Paperback, 216 Pages, Fiction
ISBN: 9780523480701, US$2.95

From the Cover: A tumor. That’s what pert little Karen Tandy had, a tumor. A strange growth that puzzled her doctor. In fact, it as so unusual that he recommended a specialist and hospitalization. Dr. Jack Hughes looked at it, a smooth round bulge. He ran his fingers over it, and it seemed to have the normal texture of a benign fibrous growth. He gently squeezed it; it was firm and hard. “It only seems to grow at night, doctor. Every morning I wake up and it’s bigger,” Karen said. Dr. Hughes studied the X rays. The little knot of tissue and bone was too formless to make any sense. There was only one thing to do, operate and cut it out. Then it moved… And a chain of events began which would soon baffle medical science and terrify all who came in touch with Karen Tandy. An American Indian sorcerer would erupt into the twentieth century after being dead for four hundred years. He was the Manitou, Misquamacus, seething with rage, returned to wreak vengeance upon the conquering white man. It would be a test of our science and his magic … a war of medicine men!

My Thoughts: So, this is another in my Weird Fiction series that I have not read in a while … like since middle school (a good twenty years ago) but I remember being terrified by it. I read this during my Being-Fascinated-with-(Faux)-Native-American-Mythology Phase (this was also about the same time that I first saw John Frankenheimer’s film Prophecy). I don’t know how accurate Masterton’s mythology is—I suspect “not very”—but that doesn’t change the fact that this is a very scary and very strange story. I don’t remember much of it beyond that … beyond staying up late into the wee hours on a Friday night (yes, I had a boring childhood) reading this story, and then being scared beyond belief and falling asleep with the light on. I haven’t done that often in my life … after I first saw Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining comes to mind (I watched that one at my aunt and uncle’s house from a secreted place as my aunt, uncle and parents watched it (they didn’t know I was there)) … but this memory certainly earns The Manitou a place in the pantheon of the New Weird Horror. (I’ll also have to keep my eyes peeled now, because what I have only found out recently is that this is the first in a series … something I didn’t know twenty years ago.)

The Iron Man: A Story in Five Nights

by Ted Hughes

illustrated by Andrew Davidson

(London: Faber Children’s Books, 2005)

Paperback, 81 Pages, Children’s

ISBN: 9780571226122, US$5.50

ABCD Rating: BACKLIST

From the Cover: A mysterious creature stalks the land, eating barbed wire and devouring tractors and plows. The farmers are mystified—and afraid. And then they glimpse him in the night: the Iron Man, taller than a house, with glowing headlight eyes and an insatiable taste for metal. The hungry giant must be stopped, at any cost. Only a young boy named Hogarth is brave enough to lead the Iron Man to a safe home. And only Hogarth knows where to turn when the earth needs a hero—a giant hero—as never before...

My Review: Just as with Hellboy, I recently introduced my son and daughter to the brilliant Brad Bird film The Iron Giant. They instantly fell head-over-heels in love with the film, and as I was watching it with them, I noticed that it said on the credits that it was based on the book by Ted Hughes. (Yes, that Ted Hughes … the Ted Hughes who was married to Sylvia Plath.) Well, imagine my surprise that this wonderful film was based on a book … and, being who I am, I needed to get my hands on that book. Luckily, our local library had a copy and it was in!

I picked it up thinking it would make a great bedtime story for my kids (since, after all, they loved the film) but that fell flat, mostly because it’s a book that is a little above the heads of a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old. (If pressed, I would say that the target age for this book is six and up.) As for me, though, I loved the book. It is a delightful little story, full of fantasy and whimsy … just what you’d expect from a children’s book … and yet it is more than just a children’s story. There are elements of the fairy tale in Hughes’ story—the lonely child, the magical friend/guardian, the … dragon—and there are elements of science fiction (science fiction, though of the Ray Bradbury kind, not the Isaac Asimov or Arthur C. Clarke … Hughes never explains his Iron Man, he just is), and in the end it is a story of friendship and heroism.

I won’t recommend the book unreservedly. This is not a “One-Size-Fits-All-Children’s-Book” and so it is not for every child … I would say ages six and up (or a very advanced five) and those who have the patience to sit through a book that can be slow at times. Also, if your child is expecting the same adventure as in Bird’s film … be aware that other than the fact that there is a giant iron robot from space that likes to eat metal, and a child name Hogarth, there is little resemblance between the two. (And I just realized that the Hogarth in the book never has a surname, whereas in the movie, his name is Hogarth Hughes.)

Hughes’ book isn’t perfect, but it is delightful, and that makes up for a lot, in my book.

FYI: There is a “sequel” of sorts, titled The Iron Woman which deals with environmental issues.