By L. Frank Baum
Robert Sabuda's paper-engineered Oz, built for the story's hundredth birthday — the twister, the Emerald City, the whole tale rising off the page in cut paper and foil.
Sabuda made this for the hundredth anniversary of Baum's book, and a lot of people call it the best pop-up ever engineered. The Kansas farmhouse, the twister that lifts Dorothy into the sky, the Emerald City that comes with a tiny pair of green cardboard glasses to look through, the Wicked Witch's tower — each one rises into a full double-page structure as you turn the page, and little pop-up booklets tucked into the corners carry a short version of the story. Colored foil catches the light as the paper opens.
This is the showpiece, the one you give when you want the gift itself to be the occasion. It's also the most fragile thing on the shelf. A genuine collector's pop-up like this belongs somewhere up high and comes down for slow, clean-handed turns rather than everyday play. I'd give it to a child of five to nine who can turn those big spreads gently, and I'd open it with them the first time. The Oz story is here in short form, but the reason to own it is the paper.