STAR WARS POP-UP GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, by Matthew Reinhart

Perfect gift idea for fans, no matter what their ageRobert Sabuda and his protégé, Matthew Reinhart, have brought pop-up books back into the mainstream, not only as concept and novelty books for very young children but as genuine works of art and engineering. Their wonderful creations attract readers of all ages, and many a Sabuda/Reinhart project has found its way to coffee tables alongside glossy art books. Reinhart's latest solo effort, STAR WARS: A POP-UP GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, is another such project that will find an audience not only among young readers but also among aficionados of paper engineering and, most importantly, nostalgic adult fans of the Star Wars franchise who will revel in this volume, timed to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the first Star Wars film. Reinhart, like many adults his age, was raised on the Star Wars mythology, and his knowledge of and appreciation for the Star Wars universe is apparent through the details he integrates into his paper creations, as well as in his dedication "to the visionary artists of STAR WARS, who fashioned a wondrous, distant galaxy with words, paint, clay, sound, and celluloid, inspiring generations of young artists around the world." The text itself is rich, dense, detailed and filled with the facts, figures and history of the fantastic world George Lucas created. The book focuses primarily on the characters and events of the three original Star Wars movies, although certain elements of the mythology do come from Episodes 1-3. Topics for the two-page spreads include the geography of the galaxy, discussions of the galaxy's social and political structures, descriptions of vehicles, the history of conflicts between the Rebels and the Empire, and Luke Skywalker's story. Since this is more of an encyclopedic guide rather than a storybook, the text does not focus on any single storyline or tell a unified narrative. Instead, it assumes its readers already know the films' plotlines and fills in the details on everything from the origins of the criminal underworld to the technical specifications of R2-D2 and C-3PO. The design of STAR WARS: A POP-UP GUIDE TO THE GALAXY will be familiar to fans of Reinhart's and Sabuda's other projects, particularly the Encyclopedia Prehistorica series. Each two-page spread consists of a large pop-up feature at its center (examples include the Millennium Falcon and a menacing Darth Vader mask), as well as several smaller, text-heavy foldout "mini books" on a certain theme, each of which may also contain one or more smaller pop-up constructions. These nested "books within a book" result in an unusually rich, interactive reading experience that will keep fans young and old poring over the pages for hours. The advertised highlights of the illustrations are Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker's working lightsabers, which turn on when their mini-books are opened. As Yoda would say, though, "Patient you must be" --- the lightsabers in my review copy took a good 10-15 seconds to light up after the page was opened. STAR WARS: A POP-UP GUIDE TO THE GALAXY is a tour de Force --- the perfect gift idea for fans, no matter what their age.