Bruce Foster Paper Engineering

Books of Wonder Pop-Up Celebration 2009

Just returned from New York where I had been invited by the store’s owner, Peter Glassman, to attend the annual Books of Wonder Pop-Up Celebration. It was a fantastic experience that allowed me to present my four new books for the fall, see some old friends and make lots of new ones. Also present was Kyle Olman, Matthew Reinhart, Sam Ita, David Carter, Chuck Fischer, and Bert Fink. Kyle presented his new book of sign language for toddlers, Baby Signs; Matthew his newest release, Nursery Rhymes; Sam showed us his Christmas Tree in a Box; David the last in his incredible abstract art series, White Noise; Chuck walked us through our newest collaboration, Angels; Bert gave us some wonderful backstory to The Sound of Music for which he adapted the text; and I spoke about my other two books, Mo Willems’ Big Frog Can’t Fit In and Sports Illustrated Kids’ Wow! The Pop-Up Book of Sports. See photo.

While in New York I, my wife Lori, and my good friends, Gene Vosough, Beth Bugler (my talented creative director from Sports Illustrated Kids), and her husband Tom dined at the Jean-Georges Vongerichten restaurant, Nougatine. The executive pastry chef is the renowned chef/author Johnny Iuzzini, with whom I am planning a future book. Johnny surprised us with a mind-boggling display of cutting edge desserts that have to be experienced to be fully appreciated. Thank you, Johnny! Then Johnny reacted in his customarily understated way to our pop up book of sports.

And I want to remind everyone about the Little Auction That Could (see previous story below). This online auction for a new library for The Hibiscus Childen’s Center is up and running. There are some once-in-a-lifetime opportunities here, including some great pop-ups. You can bid on a group of 75 books signed by an incredible group of celebrities, authors, and illustrators, including President Obama himself, who signed my friend Chuck Fischer’s White House pop up book. I myself have two interesting entries available here. My Sports Illustrated Kids book was signed by none other than Serena Williams, as seen popping up in the photo with Johnny. I also donated and signed a vintage, collector’s edition three volume set of The Lord of the Rings, the book I selected as my most influential childhood book. I would probably not be a designer if not for that book. Really. This is a great cause and an exciting opportunity for you book collectors. Lets get bidding!

Johnny Iuzzini

My friends at Sports Illustrated Kids have made a video giving a sneak peek at the development of Wow! Included are glimpses of a couple of my developing dummies and a nesting sheet from the printer prior to cutting out the pieces.

Still trying to learn how to post videos using this program, but in the meantime, this link will suffice….

Wow! Pop Up Book of Sports YouTube video

Tom Hoffarth wrote a review a couple of weeks ago for Wow! The Pop Up Book of Sports and then contacted me for a followup interview. He has posted that interview now. You can read it here:

Wow cont A Bruce Foster QandA Farther Off the Wall

The original review can be found here.

Just returned from Austin where I was fortunate to co-present with Mo Willems at the Texas Book Festival. This was a wonderful experience and Mo was hilarious as usual, appearing behind me on a large TV monitor via Skype. Mo gave us all a virtual tour of his New York studio and joined me in a Q/A session afterwards. The audiences were wonderful and very attentive. Thank you Madi and Emily for a wonderful introduction! After that I led 60 future pop up artists and their families through the construction of a new Big Frog pop up. This pop up will be available for download soon on this and Mo’s websites. So check back soon for that!

Also making news this morning is a new online interview involving Wow! The Pop-Up Book of Sports! Click here to see this great segment on CBS:  http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5442376n

Sports Illustrated Kids’ Wow! The Pop-Up Book of Sports has begun to make the news! Here are a couple of clips of its appearance on some sports broadcasts. See more of this book, including a cool animation, by visiting the Book Profiles link above!

CNN Sports

Cleveland Fox TV Sportscast

Karla Preissman is a wonderfully energetic and generous person who has stepped up to the plate to create and manage a fabulous fundraising event for a library for the abused and neglected children of the Hibiscus Children’s Center in Stuart, Florida. I am privileged to have been asked by Karla to be a small part of this incredibly worthwhile and exciting event. Over 80 celebrities, including such notables as President Obama, JK Rowling, Steve Martin, and many many more have signed their favorite childhood books to be auctioned in support of this cause. Beginning on November 5th, fans, supporters, and book collectors throughout Florida and beyond will have the opportunity to bid in person or online for these highly collectible, signed editions. I urge you to visit their website to learn more and participate! There will be some once-in-a-lifetime collectibles up for grabs here! Of special note, there will be a very special collection of pop-up books in this auction and additionally, pop-up books are going to be displayed front and center at this momentous event!

http://www.littleauctionthatcould.org/

Mo Willems has posted a really fantastic video on his website. A nice take on pop up books as well as a sneak peek into Big Frog Can’t Fit In! Click on first TV.

http://www.pigeonpresents.com/grownup.aspx

Mo Willems has also posted a nice blog about Big Frog on one of his websites.

http://mowillemsdoodles.blogspot.com/2009/10/bruce-and-mo-live-and-on-screen.html

Paper engineer Kyle Olman has posted a really great blog about the new release of Mo Willems’ “Big Frog Can’t Fit In!”.

Go here to see what he had to say:

http://popupstudionyc.blogspot.com/2009/10/one-fat-frog.html

Thanks, Kyle! See you in New York soon!

In addition to the three previously announced Fall releases, I am pleased to announce the arrival in October of Angels. Angels is my newest collaboration with Chuck Fischer, author/illustrator of the Little, Brown releases Christmas Around the World and In the Beginning.

Angels is a pop-up overview of the history of Angels, featuring 75 reproductions of works of art in addition to 6 major pop-ups, illustrated by Chuck. See more of Angels here.

With this new launch of Paperpops.com (and a very special thank you to Jean-Claude for introducing me to WordPress!), you can expect to find an evolving site of projects, news and links to colleagues and organizations of mine. As time permits, more pages and book profiles will be added. So please come back often!

Coming soon!  This summer and fall of 2009 will see the release of several new projects from my studio. First out will be the first pop-up book of Mo Willems, Big Frog Can’t Fit In! It was not only an honor to work with Mo, but it was a LOT of fun. Mo is a very wry and humorous character (I think there’s a lot of Pigeon in him). Before Mo became a best selling children’s book author with the Pigeon and KnuffleBunny series, he was a writer and animator at Sesame Street. Before that he was even a stand-up comedian for awhile.( I told you, he’s VERY funny!) And this first pop-up book (or pop-OUT as he calls it) of his is not only that and more, it’s a very clever idea. What if a character wanted to get into a book but was just too big to fit? Check it out soon. You and your little tadpoles will love it!  Just confirmed: the release date for this book is now October 6, 2009.

Early this fall, Simon and Schuster will release our pop-up version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music, with art by Dan Andreasen. This retelling of the stage version of the famous musical is sure to be a must-have for all Maria von Trapp fans! Come back soon for a sneak peek. And speaking of Maria von Trapp, if you haven’t seen this video of the art happening in Central Station, you definitely should!

Sports Illustrated Kids will be presenting Wow! The Pop-Up Book of Sports just in time for football season. This book has captured some very special moments in recent sports history: The Red Sox’s breaking of the World Series curse, Danny Way’s incredible skateboard leap over the Great Wall of China, and appearances by LeBron James, Tiger Woods, Serena Williams and many more! Kudos to Beth Bugler for excellent book design as well as being one of the most enthusiastic creative directors I’ve had the pleasure of working with!