Robert Sabuda fell in love with pop-up books at, of all places, the dentist's office. His mother noticed a wire basket filled with books and suggested he get one for them to read while they waited. "I realized right away that these books were special," he writes in a pamphlet produced by the National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature. "They were very thick and had hard covers, which to me meant they were expensive. I opened the first one and was shocked and delighted when something leapt right off the page. It was a pop-up book! I was so excited I forgot all about the dentist."
After that, family and friends gave him pop-up books for every occasion. He eventually started creating his own pop-ups, completing the first book at age 8.
Sabuda grew up in the rural town of Pinckney, in southeastern Michigan. His father was a mason and carpenter, and from him, young Sabuda learned what goes into constructing three-dimensional structures. From his mother, he learned to love literature, and because she also had a dance studio, he learned rhythm and balance.
Sabuda talks about how he also loved art. "With the ability to hold a crayon came the discovery that I was an artist. I spent hours, days and weeks drawing, painting, cutting and gluing. My bedroom was a constant whirlwind of pencil shavings, drippy paint brushes and mounds of paper scraps."
Eventually he studied art at the Pratt Institute in New York City and today works in a studio in New York City with his partner, Matthew Reinhart, creating and illustrating children's books. His first pop-up book was published in 1994.
For more information about the artist and his work, visit www.robertsabuda.com.
—Carma Wadley