LEGO POP-UP

A soaring 3-D tribute to “the world’s most beloved toy.”

This rhapsodic tour of the company’s history, minifigures, themes, structures, and martial arts Ninjago barely stops short of including an order form. Reinhart trumps the commercialism, though, with five pop-ups so huge and dazzlingly complicated that their content seems just a pretext for an exhibition of jaw-dropping paper engineering. See the red race car? Lift here, and it suddenly acquires wings and propellers; pull there, and a robot T. Rex snaps into view as if from nowhere. Turn a page for a castle complete with dragon and Fright Knights—transformed, with a yank on a pull-tab, to a Space Cruiser and a friendly demand to surrender our “hunk of dirt” immediately. Smaller side flaps and die-cut windows offer similarly magical transformations, along with portrait galleries and descriptive notes. Opening the final spread releases a densely kaleidoscopic collage of Lego figures and structures that twists up nearly 2 feet to a flying pirate ship beneath a shiny toy sun. “What will you build next?” the hyperbolic commentary concludes. A good question for Reinhart as well as for young makers.

Inspiring fare for paper crafters and Lego-manes alike.