There has been a renaissance in pop-up papercraft books in the last decade, in part due to the prolific and inspired work of Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart, whose works include Maurice Sendak's Mommy?, adaptations of Alice in Wonderland and Mother Goose, and collaborations on several excellent books about animals and mythic creatures and adaptations of the Chronicles of Narnia and Tomie dePaola's Strega Nona.

The career of pop-up artist David A. Carter doesn't fit in neatly with this movement. It's also somewhat schizophrenic, and a reader encountering one of the two strands of Carter's double life in pop-up books might be surprised to discover the other.

On the one hand are Carter's series of interactive books about cartoon bugs - lift-the-flap books, touch and feel books, and what seems like dozens of pop-up books. Inexpensive, rapidly released, and often with an unfinished feel (his recent Snow Bugs, which we received for review, featured a few pop-up pages that were poorly designed and barely functional; others, like a page featuring an ice skater who spins on an axle when a tab is pulled, are truly inspired). The primary limitation of these books is that they are designed to appeal to and be manipulated by young children, but are not very durable. This is a challenge of pop-up books in general, but in Carter's case, a lack of complexity in the papercraft and numerous pull tabs and windows make it clear that these books are intended to be aggressively handled.

But along with these, Carter has been slowly releasing volumes of a different series, one we find fascinating. The latest, White Noise, was released two weeks ago, and we have been playing with it ever since. The book communicates a mastery of abstract paper forms that are sure to elicit amazement from children as well as adults, but it's also a symphony of crackling, popping, and creaking that would make a chiropractor swoon. The book sounds like an old house, or a ship at sea, and its mysterious, subtle, and fascinating sounds give the book an almost otherworldly dimension, using an unexpected route to achieve the goal of any book: to draw you into a world your mind cannot resist exploring.

White Noise joins four other books in this series - 600 Black Spots, Yellow Square, Blue 2, and One Red Dot. But it's the sound that makes White Noise such an exceptionally interesting and engaging book.

But I've already talked too much. What I really should do is let this book speak for itself. Once the intro music is over, turn it up - our Flip cameras' mics can only pick up so much.


You can purchase White Noise on Amazon.com at a ridiculous discount for a new book of this physical quality. It is a steal at its current price of $13.44, down from a very reasonable list price of $22.99.

We received White Noise and Snow Bugs from the books' publisher. We will pass it on to a child who can use it, but will not donate it to a charity as we'd like to ensure it goes to a family who will care for it.