Maisy's Pop-up Playhouse
Gaily tied up with two red ribbons, Lucy Cousins's unusual, delightful, virtually wordless "book" is in fact a triple pop-up. When you open the covers (vertically, like a door, rather than horizontally), you are introduced to this endearing rodent's kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom, like three little dollhouses. In the boldly colorful kitchen is a pop-up table and chairs, and a pop-out-from-the-wall set of cabinets, complete with a range that opens to reveal a baking pie, and many other distractions. Turn the "page" and you come to a bathroom complete with a mirror on the wall, a liftable toilet seat, and a little figure of Maisy to stand in the shower stall. Each room comes with a sheet containing cut-out objects like clothing and small furnishings, to be arranged at will. In the bedroom, a tab turns a window scene from day to night and back again, and a clothes chest has real sliding drawers. Maisy is a character small children can fall in love with. Ingenious. (Ages 3 to 6)--Richard Farr