Encyclopedia Mythologica: Fairies and Magical Creatures Pop-Up Hardcover – Pop up, July 8, 2008

This incredibly intricate pop-up book brings back the fun I had creating my own jumbo fantasy pop-ups while amazing me with it's folding out pop-ups that are truly a feat of paper construction! Besides marveling at the the beautiful colour rendoring and fold out figures( how did they get Titanias wings to spin around like that!?) I'm also impressed with the knowledge of myth and folklore! Some reviewers express dissaproval of the scarrey dark fairies, the mischief that leprachans and the dangers that some of mythical figures of magic were described as doing. But I don't find that depressing and the author mentions the light fun of the little people as well. Brian Froud's FAERIES books are along the same lines as this book and as someone who has books on greek myths and Norse myths, both for children and adults, the authors are sharing their knowledge of these world myths with these artistic pop-ups! Remember, this is called an encyclopedia mythologica! And ages ago people saw these myths as explanations of the unknown world around them! Since I make my own hand drawn animation with fantasy characters I appreciate the creativity and variety of this pop-up book ! Today's world has both dark and light and so does the fairy world of myth and legend! All this was the inspiration for J.R.R.Tolkien's LORD OF THE RINGS and THE HOBBIT stories after all! I would not recommend this book for little kids simply because the pop-ups are so intricate! It's good there are corner tabs to stick the smallpages back into to keep the mini pop-ups from being damaged. One has to carefully close the book so as not to damage the folded figures! I like the pop-ups I made years ago but again I say WOW!! I got my copy for $15.00 from Bookseller USA. It might be a good idea to get a copy for your adultself in case the kids damage the other copy!

I preface this review with: I purchased this book used, so I will not comment on the ease of page turning it the conditions of the paper when I got it. I own a number of the pop up books by this artist, and I have to say that the graphics were highly ambitious (in terms of complexity) and are well done. The moving parts are slightly more complicated than the popup work in the shark or dinosaur books, if you have already seen those. The fairy myths are pretty wide ranging, similar variety of fairies as there have been variety in the topics (in terms of number of mythological fairy/troll/Jin/mermaids. I bought this book for my collection so I neglected the fact that it is a fairy book engine though I bought it for my sons and they both were still pretty excited about it since the pages were fascinating to watch pop up, and the art was still fairly engaging with regards to color and art style. If you have children that like humanoid fantasy, this is a great pop-up book. I'm still on the lookout for the drain book of this series. My kids can't read yet, but they still enjoy opening the book. And on occasion I'll read to then, the information contained is pretty interesting for me as an adult, my kids don't care about the text as much as the trolls. Lol

Absolutely gorgeous book!

Clever and complicated and impressive.

I always loved pop-up books as a child - and still do as a 72 year old. They do much to stimulate the imagination: better than books merely with pictures and much, much better than TV or movies (which leave little for a child to imagine on his/her own). Although pop-ups tend to be fragile this one seems a little sturdier that usual. I bought this book as a birthday present for a little girl who will be four in July. She not only believes in fairies but thinks she is one herself! I can't wait to see the surprise and delight on her face when she opens this. I know her mother will supervise her enjoyment of the book until she is old enough to be less destructive with it.Furthermore, the price of this book (with the discount) can't be beat. Also the packaging was done very well. Besides the robust mailing package it came in it was wrapped in a clear covering that is like a pouch that can be opened for examination and resealed for presentation.

This book, and the others by Matthew Reinhart, are incredible! They are insanely detailed and planned out. Each page has a large and very elaborate pop-up as the main focus of the page, and then 4 more small pop-ups on each corner. The smaller ones are just as creative and intricate.Cheaper pop-up books can fold in wrong when trying to close them, but these close just right every time! They are so complicated in design that I am afraid that when I go to close it that it will bend or crease wrong, but it closes smoothly and correctly.I bought 5 of his books for Christmas present and read them all ahead of time. You can tell right when you open them that someone put a ton of love and pride into the planning and production of these books. Highly recommend these!

Intricate and creative. Well done!

This book was so fun to get and had huge pop up pages very cool! My son loved it!

Tengo varios de Sabuda, pero a este le he cogido un cariño especial, por las imágenes y las sorpresas que esconde.

perfetto per creare un immaginario di base per bambini e ragazzi. Consigliato anche per gli adulti fantasiosi e curiosi. Ottimo.

POP-UP百科事典の新作は「妖精と幻獣」、とはいえ、大きく６つの見開きのうち、妖精が５ページ、幻獣は１ページです（サンプル画像はこの「幻獣」のページを掲載しています）。仕掛けはいつもどおりすばらしく安定していますが、見慣れてしまっているせいもあって、突出した部分はありません。また、題材が日本人には意外と縁の薄い「西洋の妖精」をメインにしているため、内容的にちょっととっつきにくいです。「取替え子」「妖精の輪」など、欧米ではあたりまえな知識だけれど、日本では知ってる人は当然のように知っているけど知らない人は全然知らない、と言ったトピックも結構収録されています。河童やカラス天狗が妖精の仲間として収録されているのは日本の読者への配慮かもしれません。西洋の妖精に興味や知識がある方には星プラス１。