Spider-Man & Friends Pop-Up: One for Me, Zoo for You

Background

This pop-up book is the third in a "Ready for Adventure" series of Spider-Man pop-up books for toddlers, written by Michi Fukimoto and produced by Paradise Books. It stars the "Spider-Man & Friends" licensed characters. The four major characters from that team are kiddie versions of Spider-Man, Spider-Girl (his cousin), Hulk (green but not angry) and Captain America.

The book itself is 5" x 7" with thick padded covers. Each book in the four-book series is 10 pages, featuring five "centerfold" double-page images, each featuring a single, very simple popup which is best visible when the book is open at a right angle. Each page features text of a single paragraph, one or two sentences.

Story Details

Spidey and Friends are at the zoo for a day's adventure. They all have their sun-hats on as they appear in this first, large pop-up panel. Each friend wants to visit their favorite exhibit.

Spidey goes to the see the monkeys. He pops up out of the page as he hangs upside down. He waves, they wave back.

Captain America goes to see the cheetahs. Sometimes he races them and wins. Heh, right. Captain America is "peak human". That doesn't mean he can run 100kph! I think the cheetah's were letting him cheet. Captain America pops up out of a cloud of dust as he runs.

Spider-Girl swings high and feeds the giraffe. She and the giraffe's head both pop out of this page together on the same panel.

The Hulk ROARs out of the final page as he visits the lion. The lion looks embarassed - he's been out-roared by the jade giant. Burn!

General Comments

Silly art, daft stories, what's not to love! This stuff really grows on you.

Overall Rating

This is far more entertaining that it has any right to be. Four webs.