Product Description

Master pop-up artist Chuck Fischer's most glorious creation yet -- CHRISTMAS AROUND THE WORLD is the perfect holiday gift. Featuring France, Germany, Russia, Latin America, Scandinavia, Great Britain, Italy, and the United States, every spread is packed with delights: a luxurious central pop-up image, plus removable booklets, pullouts, mini pop-ups, and more. The text illuminates unique Christmas traditions, gift legacies, and portraits of mythic figures, such as England's Father Christmas and Italy's Le Befana. Like Christmas in New York, CHRISTMAS AROUND THE WORLD is destined to become a treasured keepsake and a bestseller for years to come.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6735 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 12 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780316117951
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
Chuck Fischer's paintings hang in some of the finest residences in the world. His designs have been reproduced on china for Lenox and home furnishings, including wallpaper and fabrics in the permanent collection of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum. He is the author of three previous pop-up books--THE WHITE HOUSE, GREAT AMERICAN HOUSES AND GARDENS, and CHRISTMAS IN NEW YORK. He lives in New York City.

Customer Reviews

Armchair Sleigh Ride!
For those looking for this year's collectible holiday pop-up, many will find it here. The text is informative and sometimes truly surprising. (If you haven't heard the German legend of The Krampus--I hadn't, and my grandparents were German--you're in for a bit of an unexpected shudder and a shock!)

The book is interactive, of course, with plenty of informative flip-back, pull-open, slide-out features. The style of illustration echoes that of the Victorian images that sometimes share space alongside. The photographs and reprints are colorful, sharp, and well-chosen.

Most of the pop ups are delightful: The British images unfurl and swirl up and out miraculously. The French boulevard--with richly stocked shop windows, a picturesque Metro stairway, kiosk, and street lamp--glistens under strands of bright star garlands. A German village and mountaintop castle in the clouds and a giant decorated evergreen, all seen from a distance, invite you in with a festive "Willkomen" sign hung between entrance gates decorated like candy canes. The final pop up is a classic: Santa and his sleigh, silver reins shining, on his way around the world! And the last surprise--a pull-out drawer with a sweet gift tucked inside that will itself hold one more gifty or goody.

A few small disappointments arise along the way: The tip of the top turret of the German castle extends past the page bottom and will be constantly bent and tattered with use and conventional storage; you may want to shelve the book on its ribboned end or upside down. The pull-out drawer contains--I assure you--only one item, instead of the bounty of materials other similar books often contain. (I telephoned to be sure my copy was not missing materials.) And finally, in the last pop up, Santa's dull boozy expression is a major flaw in an otherwise delightful Christmas treasure. (With a tiny bit of correction fluid, a fine point pen, and a steady hand we've already refocused the eyes on our Jolly Old Elf. Looks great!) I hope future reprints might correct these small errors. And please, tuck at least a couple more holiday surprises into the pull-out drawer. Santa would.

Much more than a pop-up book
Not really meant for young kids, this quality keepsake is better suited as part of your Christmas decorations, something you bring out for the coffee table every year.

The pop-ups are terrific, among the best I've ever seen. But what makes the book complete are all the extras on each page. In fact, when I finished looking through it, I valued the book as much for its history as its art.

Here's why:

The first spread, about Father Christmas and Dicken's "A Christmas Carol," includes a few paragraphs about the history of each fable as well as two tiny six-page booklets. Additional spreads offer similar treatments for The Christmas Witch and pagan Rome, the Advent Calendar, Pere Noël and other French traditions, historic Russian folk tales and the true story of Saint Nicholas, and finally, the American Santa Claus.

All spreads have flaps, too; some have pull outs.

A thick cover, laminated paper stock and half-inch base help keep everything from getting damaged, but there's so much glued and folded paper stuffed in here that you'll still need to treat it all with care.

The title is a misnomer if I ever read one.
The book should be more appropriately titled, European and American Christmas Traditions. The "Around the World" in the title extends to England, France, Germany, Russia and the USA with a little bit about Scandinavia. For information about Christmas around the world, you might check out http://christmas-world.freeservers.com//index.html and I'm sure there are many more.

The graphics are nicely done. The text is dense and appropriate for adults. Although this is a pop-up book, beware that it is NOT a children's book. My 6 & 8 year olds were not interested from the second that they saw the size of the text.