Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up...

Generations of children have been enchanted by J.M Barrie's classic tale about Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up. There have been many variations on this tale in book form and other media, and I'm sure that there must have been pop-up books (the technical phrase being 3D paper engineering) before as it is a mainstay of story telling for the younger generation.

This new version is from award-winning paper engineer Robert Sabuda, a successful author with many books behind him including The Moveable Mother Goose and the best-selling Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Sabuda's love of 3D paper engineering was inspired by the gift of a book by Austrian artist Vojtech Kubasta, and his interest in children's book came from an internship whilst studying.

This edition of Peter Pan is a well designed collector's piece with five large stunningly intricate pieces of paper engineering. The story is presented on mini parchment and also contain some nice pop-ups. Where I worry about this book is that the recommended age is 4+ and I'm not convinced that this is the right age for such a delicate work of art. I wouldn't consider giving this book to a small child to handle, but it would be alright for an adult to read to a child and show the pop-ups but be in control of the book. I'm firmly of the belief that this will make a great present this Christmas but probably best for a child who would treat this book with the respect it deserves.