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White Noise

A Pop-Up Book for Children of All Ages
18p. 978-1-41694-094-4.
COPY ISBN
Gr 3-Up Carter's fifth installment in his innovative, color-themed paper-sculpture series incorporates another level of sensory interaction for readers to take note of and explore. Sound plays an important role in the artwork from the cover (fingers can be strummed along the raised, textured starburst shapes) to the unfurling and contemplation of each of the nine paper-engineering marvels contained within. Like the other offerings in the series, the poetic text tantalizingly refers to the displayed pop-up while leaving much to interpretation by the imagination ("Rainbow bubble blast/and crackly white noise") or explanation from canny adults ("Sir Anthony's easel/and Munari's white noise"). The paper structures are as breathtaking as ever, with the sound effects varying from "white noise" created as the sculpture is deployed to pieces with added aural wows (the "tinkling" of cutout circles hanging from string or a pull tab that runs along serrated xylophonelike card stock). The relationship between words, sounds, and visuals is consistently pleasing, thought-provoking, and playful. In addition to grabbing the eye and ear, this book seems a natural for extensions in music and art classes."Joy Fleishhacker, School Library Journal" Copyright 2010 Media Source Inc.
As he did in One Red Dot and Yellow Square, Carter creates a visual feast through elaborate, abstract pop-ups. Here an aural layer is added, as each pop-up also makes a noise, as described in impressionistic text ("Rainbow bubble blast / and crackly white noise"). Some of the sound effects (and, for that matter, the pop-ups) work better than others.

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