When I saw Jan Pienkowski's Haunted House Pop Up Book across the room at Books of Wonder, a huge wave of nostalgia rushed over me. The green cover, of a creepily beckoning door and bubbly magenta lettering sent me immediately to the floor of my childhood room, laughing at the funny drawings with my sister. The black cat and lady portrait with moving eyes, the monster in the kitchen with a birthday cake, the alien crashing through the bathroom wall, the ghost lurking in the canopy bed, and the bat freaking out in the attic–every image from this classic book is ingrained in my mind.
Pienkowski, who is also the creator the beloved Meg and Mog books has a great website that's introduced me to more of his work, like these absolutely gorgeous silhouette pop ups which I'd like to have to inspire my own kids some day just like Haunted House probably helped me along on my lifelong appreciation of the darker side of things. He also did a fun looking pop up called Pizza! His style is sometimes beautifully simple, often using nice dark pen and ink and lots of quirky characters. A great discovery for anyone interested in illustration.
But what do you think?