Book Review: "A Christmas Carol: A Pop Up Book" by Chuck Fischer

This beautiful re-imagining of Charles Dickens's timeless fable, A Christmas Carol: A Pop-Up Book features artist Chuck Fischer's richly painted depictions of the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future, brought to life in intricate pop-up scenes by paper engineer Bruce Foster. The entire text of A Christmas Carol is reproduced in five removable, illustrated, keepsake booklets. An introductory booklet provides a biography of Dickens and an illustrated feature on the enduring appeal of this beloved story. The perfect gift, A Christmas Carol, now in pop-up form, will brighten the holidays for young and old.

I am a HUGE HUGE HUGE fan of Chuck Fischer's pop up books. I love pop up books in general. There was this awesome exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American History in DC that focused on the history and different types of pop up books. I was thrilled to see one of Fischer's books as well as a video explaining the process of creating his wonderful works of art. I love his books because they're just like magic by bringing these scenes into 3D.

If you ever wanted a book to get you into the holiday spirit, this is it. Immediately as soon as you open up the cover, the holiday classic jumps right at you. The pictures are absolutely gorgeous and really bring to life this classic holiday tale. My favorite is the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. Personally this has always been my favorite Ghost throughout the entire story but seeing it in all its terror and glory was outstanding here. It's exactly how I pictured it to be and the presentation is haunting and magnificent.

The only tiny blip was that one of the scenes can be easily missed because it's tucked inside of another scene. I almost didn't see it had it not been for me pondering why that certain page was thicker than the other pages. Since it's s tucked in and has to be manually opened, I suggest being quite fragile with it. The book is not something that has to be opened with gloved hands and put behind a glass case but I would recommend handling it carefully as not to tear the pop ups in anyway.

Included with the book is the complete text of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, broken up in five booklets (including one with a nifty cover). This is nice because it breaks up the reading. There is also another booklet that talks about the impact A Christmas Carol has had on the world (mentions several different movie versions including my favorite, A Muppet Christmas Carol!) as well as a brief bio about Charles Dickens.

As I've stated before with Fischer's other books, just because these are pop up books does not necessarily mean they are just for kids. These are stunningly beautiful, delicate works of art that can be admired and treasured by readers of all ages. This is a perfect book for the holidays. I think it would be wonderful to read aloud a part of the text of A Christmas Carol every night and stare in wonder at the magic come to life before your eyes.

A Christmas Carol: A Pop Up Book by Chuck Fischer is published by Little Brown and Company (2010)

This review copy was provided by the publisher

(pardon the lighting, but here is one of the scenes from the book, guess which one)