Books’ intricate illustrations literally leap from the page

Always helpful Bob Cox spotted This Toledo Blade Story on “Pop-up power.”

Robert Sabuda’s obsession with pop-up books began one day when he was 7 and full of fear about a dental appointment. Trying to distract him in the dentist’s office, his mother reached into a nearby basket of children’s books and pulled out a pop-up book called The Adventures of Super Pickle.

It worked. Mr. Sabuda had never seen a pop-up book, and was entranced by how the images of the caped pickle literally popped up from the pages.

“It was so exciting. I forgot all about the dentist,” Mr. Sabuda said in a recent telephone interview from his Manhattan studio.