The Movable Mother Goose

Sabuda (ABC Disney) upholds his reputation for mind-bogglingly elaborate paper confections with this surprise-filled collection of nursery rhymes. An all-animal cast makes for some amusing twists: Little Bo-Peep is a sheepdog, Miss Muffet a fly (with good reason to be frightened by a spider) and nimble Jack a grasshopper. Each spread has a central rhyme, the pop-up for which unfolds with the turn of a page; rectangular flaps introduce additional rhymes. The creatures, rendered in matte blocks of color (plus some metallic foil), take on the form of a cut-paper sculpture. The pop-ups are occasionally difficult to decipher: it takes some analysis, for example, to figure out that Jack and Jill are ants tumbling down an anthill. Though Sabuda seems particularly fond of insects, their unfolding limbs and body segments can make them the most challenging to decode. However, the virtuoso pieces are astonishing, particularly the mice that race up and down for ""Hickory Dickory Dock"" and the four-and-twenty sunglasses-sporting blackbirds that burst from a pie. All ages. (Oct.)