Holiday Gift Idea #2: Unleash the Force

A trio of Star Wars books: A pop-up, paper craft book and Yoda-inspired series. (Save you, they can!)

Star Wars: A Galactic Pop-Up Adventure, by Matthew Reinhart, Orchard, $36.99, ages 7 & up, 10 pages, 2012. A skeletal General Grievous lunges out with sabers swinging, in one of the most exciting pop ups in this 3-D sequel. Engineering wizard Reinhart follows up his best-selling Star Wars: A Pop-Up Guide to the Galaxy with painterly pop-ups that are so intricate, it's hard to believe they could be mass produced. Readers will want to gingerly move from one scene to another, with parents helping kids (even as kids bounce around, wanting to rush to see it all). Devious separatists and fanged monsters lurk under folds, then swivel in attack, and in one, a bounty hunter's head transforms into a mercenary's. Smaller pop-ups near page corners are often nested three folds deep and can be viewed at least two at a time (with care). Reinhart packs in so many plot elements, every section bulges like a scrapbook. The book spans three prequel movies and the Clone Wars, from when Anakin is recruited as a Jedi through his transformation into Darth Vader. The grand finale is equipped with an LED and shows the fallen Jedi swiping the air with a saber that turns blue to red, as he passes to the Dark Side. Reinhart's book is a jaw-dropping marvel -- haunting and perilous like George Lucas's epic movies, and layered with complexity. Once more, Reinhart stretches the bounds of 3-D paper art and leaves even his youngest fan speechless. Best part: The gulp factor. One of my favorites is an eerie little pop-up at the end of the book. The head of Darth Sidious slips out of Palpatine's cloak, transforming the chancellor into the evil lord, with a deranged grin and raised claw-like hand. Click here to watch the trailer or scroll down to the next post!

Star Wars Origami, 36 Amazing Paper-folding Projects from a Galaxy Far, Far Away, by Chris Alexander, foreword by Tom Angleberger, Workman, $16.95, ages 9 an up, 272 pages. From the creator of starwarsorigami.com comes an irresistible tome of paper-folding projects. Alexander -- who Angleberger (author of The Strange Case of Origami Yoda) aptly calls the "Jedi Master" of origami  -- has designed 36 models representing iconic creatures, characters, weapons and battleships from the Star Wars epic. Alexander begins with a training chapter -- a short lesson in basic folds -- then dives into projects of varying difficulty, beginning at a Youngling level (easy), and on to Padawan (medium), Jedi Knight (difficult) and Jedi Master (tricky). Alexander takes readers step-by-step through the folds, giving pictures as he goes, and supplies 72 sheets of artfully designed paper. In between projects, fans take a breather and test their memories with trivia quizzes. Among the highlights, a death star for beginners that blows up into a small paper pillow and a self-standing C-350 made from two pieces of golden paper detailed with joints, eyes, even shadows (medium). Origami, in general, is challenging and Alexander's projects -- though well-explained -- are no different. So, plan on making this a joint activity for parents and child to avoid needless frustration. But be ready. Young fans will want to fold them all!  Best part: An elaborately folded Taun We -- long-necked and as elegant as a preying mantis.

Origami Yoda Book series (The Strange Case of Origami Yoda, Darth Paper Strikes Back, The Secret of Fortune Wookie), by Tom Angleberger, Amulet, $12.95 each, 8 and up, 160-176 pages, 2010-2012.  In this hilarious series, a sixth-grade misfit shows up at school with an origami Yoda on his fingers and the puppet begins doling out advice that suggests the puppet is wise beyond the boy's years. Is this just the boy, Dwight, throwing his voice or could this "green paper wad" have mystical powers? Written like case files, this fun, fast-paced series explores the social dynamics and fads of sixth grade, and what it means to rise to greatness. Could it be that greatness lies in...weirdness?  Best parts: When Dwight's cootie-catcher takes on a life on its own and inspires the arrival of paper puppet Chewbacca, a Fortune Wookie, and folded Han Solo, alias Han Foldo. Also, every book includes instructions to recreate one of these sage little puppets. (Watch for Art2-D2's Guide to Folding and Doodling: An Origami Yoda Activity book, due out in March!)

A Galactic Pop-Up Trailer

3. Up, Up and Away!

DC Super Heroes: The Ultimate Pop-Up Book, engineered by Matthew Reinhart, Little, Brown and Company, $29.99, ages 4-8, 12 pages. Earth's mightiest superhuman heroes leap, pounce and lasso off the folds of this fantastic tribute to the DC comic universe. Reinhart, one of today's most celebrated paper engineers, captures the larger-than-life personas of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and others doing what they're famous for: Superman leaps off tall buildings with his fists raised, Batman soars off the ledge of a skyscraper in Gotham, the warrior goddess Wonder Woman flies through the clouds lashing her golden whip and the four Green lanterns shoot toward us from a massive battery as their power rings illuminate the page in green light. Of course, a hero would be nothing without his nemesis, and in one mighty leap, the Dread Lord Darkseid, reaches up out of a fiery pit on another spread to try to grab us.

Making Sense of the Gods: Five Fun Myth Books

Young Zeus

By G. Brian Karas

Scholastic Press, 2010

$17.99, ages 4-18, 48 pages

Encyclopedia Mythologica:
Gods & Heroes

By Matthew Reinhart and Robert Sabuda

Candlewick Press, 2010

$29.99, ages 9-12, 12 pages

Mythical gods may not rank up there with wizards and vampires as your child's favorite characters -- and not surprisingly. With so many duking it out for control over the universe, it's enough to make your child's head spin.

But when you think about how often myths pop up in children's books -- from Chris Van Allsburg's The Wreck of the Zephyr to Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series -- it's hard not to want to nudge your child to learn the basics.

Just knowing a little about the gods, heroes and beasts of Greek, Roman and Nordic mythology can enrich your child's reading experience -- and ideally, give them insight into some of the books they already love to read.

The challenge, of course, is finding mythology books that are interesting enough to draw readers away from their usual selections and brush up on who's who.

Fortunately there are some really great books that bring levity, clarity and a lot fun to the subject.

One of my new favorites is Karas's Young Zeus -- a perfect picture book to introduce young readers to the Greek gods' family tree. Karas retells the story of the chief deity in such a playful way its seems more like a fairy tale than an ancient legend.

The book opens with the queen of heaven Rhea whisking her baby son Zeus out of harm's way to the island of Crete. Fearing that Zeus's sinister father, the Titan Cronus, will eat Zeus if he discovers his son is still alive, Rhea asks an enchanted she-goat Amaltheia to keep Zeus hidden until he's grown.

Though Zeus is happy playing in the golden sun with all of the beasts and birds of Crete, he misses playing with other gods, and asks "Ammy" (Amaltheia) why he's all alone. Like all Greek mythology, it's complicated, but Ammy manages to give Zeus a good run-through of the quarrels that led to his dilemma.

First, of course, was the marital discord between his grandparents the sky god Uranus and earth god Gaia -- Uranus loved twelve of his children, the Titans, but was so ashamed of the six who were monsters that he locked them away in the underworld against his wife's wishes.

Then there's that louse Cronos, who was asked by his mother Gaia to dethrone Uranus and free his six monster siblings, but instead left them in the underworld to suffer. He was so power-hungry that he eventually gobbled up all of his children (except Zeus of course) for fear they might overthrow him.

Little did Cronos know, however, that when he began to eat his kids, his wife Rhea wrapped a rock up in a blanket to look like Zeus, and stole Zeus away to safety, which brings Ammy to the end of her story -- and the beginning of Zeus's legendary fight for justice.

On the next pages, Zeus embarks on a quest to free his siblings, the other Olympians, from his father's stomach and together with the help of his uncles in the underworld, defeat Cronos and his other sons, the wicked Titans.

Karas brings humor and magic to this tale, depicting scenes as I child might imagine them. There's mother Rhea sweeping down like a storm cloud with baby Zeus, then a young Zeus, nearly as tall as the tree he's sitting by, moping with his head in his hands because he doesn't have any gods to play with.

Another splendid new release is Reinhart and Sabuda's Encyclopedia Mythologica: Gods & Heroes, an overview of ancient myths with intricate pop-ups no child can resist.

On one page Thor, the Nordic sky god, pops out at readers with a magical hammer over his head while on another an Aztec serpent flies toward them with its jaws open. (Just be sure to open and close each spread slowly. Some pop-ups have to be guided closed to prevent elements from overlapping and ripping.)

Watch a book trailer of the pop-up below!

You also can't go wrong with the 2007 Mythology and the 2009 followup The Mythology Handbook: An Introduction to the Greek Myths, both part of Candlewick's "Ology" series.

Mythology, the scrapbook of fictional nineteenth century scholar Lady Hestia Evans, includes fun pull-out parts and flaps, and curiosities. including a card game featuring the 12 Olympians. The Mythology Handbook, a workbook of lessons for Hestia's two children, includes mazes, a word search using Greek letters, stickers, fact files and maps.

Another wonderful book is Eric A. Kimmel and Pep Montserrat's The McElderry Book of Greek Myths, a 2008 release from Margaret K. McElderry. Perfect for bedside reading, the anthology brings to life 12 myths (among them Pandora's Box and the story of Pygmalion) with richly colored images that meander around the text.