Winter wonderland

What would the holiday season be without a new offering from pop-up wizard Robert Sabuda? This year, Sabuda celebrates nature in Winter's Tale. Known for his astounding white paper sculptures that rise from vibrantly colored pages, Sabuda brings in darker colors appropriate for winter scenes in this latest book. Browns and purples suggest depth in the cave where the foxes live, the tree stump home of the mice and especially in the squirrel-filled tree.

A thick coating of white mixed with a dusting of glitter stands in for the deep, crunchy snow of the forest and adds texture to the pages. Just as in 2004's America the Beautiful, Sabuda uses silver for water, this time adding an iridescent element to mimic frozen crystals on the surface (kids will love the escaping fish). Of the wonderful spreads in Winter's Tale, especially impressive are the owl flying straight at the reader and the majestic moose standing amid logs in a swamp. For pure holiday spectacle, however, nothing can match the final spread with its myriad pine trees, candy cane-like birches and little house, complete with snowman and twinkling lights.