Understanding Children’s Literature and Material Culture through Pop-Up Books
Author : Fiona Feng-Hsin Liu
Keywords : children’s literature, pop-up books, material culture, Anouck Boisrobert and Louis Rigaud, Philippe UG, Robert Sabuda
This paper explores the linkage between children’s literature and material
culture through pop-up books. The questions to be explored include how the
pop-up book’s literary-visual content is combined crucially with the book’s
physical properties—the mechanical devices—to script for the child-reader,
and how elements of material properties in pop-up books shape the reader’s
construction of various categories, such as environmentalism, toys, souvenirs,
and/or collection. The paper argues that the pop-up book is a fitting form for
investigating material culture because there is hardly any book form apart
from pop-ups that best manifests its materiality to children. Each pop-up
mechanism is designed to draw the reader in; when a pop-up spread unfolds,
it demands a reaction from the reader. The pop-up books selected for analysis
include In the Forest (2012), Robots (2014), and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz:
A Commemorative Pop-Up (2000). While all three pop-ups enhance the comprehension
of the link between children’s books and material culture, their
diversity in themes, aesthetic devices, and social reception serves different purposes,
displaying the distinct dimension of objects. The paper consists of three
parts. The first part considers a number of contemporary theoretical literatures
on objects. The second part briefly surveys the history of movable/pop-up
books, overviewing the genre’s evolution and its conjunction with children.
This paper explores the linkage between children’s literature and material
culture through pop-up books. The questions to be explored include how the
pop-up book’s literary-visual content is combined crucially with the book’s
physical properties—the mechanical devices—to script for the child-reader,
and how elements of material properties in pop-up books shape the reader’s
construction of various categories, such as environmentalism, toys, souvenirs,
and/or collection. The paper argues that the pop-up book is a fitting form for
investigating material culture because there is hardly any book form apart
from pop-ups that best manifests its materiality to children. Each pop-up
mechanism is designed to draw the reader in; when a pop-up spread unfolds,
it demands a reaction from the reader. The pop-up books selected for analysis
include In the Forest (2012), Robots (2014), and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz:
A Commemorative Pop-Up (2000). While all three pop-ups enhance the comprehension
of the link between children’s books and material culture, their
diversity in themes, aesthetic devices, and social reception serves different purposes,
displaying the distinct dimension of objects. The paper consists of three
parts. The first part considers a number of contemporary theoretical literatures
on objects. The second part briefly surveys the history of movable/pop-up
books, overviewing the genre’s evolution and its conjunction with children.