Sunday 10 April 2011

Digging up an old classic....

Re-visiting Jan Pienkowski's  Haunted House!
(hope you are feeling brave!)


YES this is real 3D!
 



Whilst em"bark"ing on a spot of spring cleaning (pink feather duster in hand) one stumbled upon what must be one of the all time classic picture pop-ups Jan Pienkowski's Greenaway award winning Haunted House.
I remember the tatty old (much loved) edition at our local library, bearly a pop left in tact but still the book which everyone made a beeline for.
I now look back and wonder whether it was the closest thing to watching television but on re-visiting this spoooooky story I can see that it's almost perfect in every way!

Scared?! me? ..no way I'm double hard!


Crrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeak open up the door on this house of horrors and you will be in for a big surprise!

you will; be whisked through the rooms of a spooky old house as a prospective new tenant encountering the following on your way
  • Real dangly spiders
  • A googly eyed octopus doing the dishes
  • An utterly horrifying spaghetti monster with fried egg eyes launching itself out of the fridge
  • A humongous Ape with pecs that Peter Andrea would be proud of
Mouse = not fussed...

  • A wall busting alien beast with horrifying antenna
Boo?

  • Posh Spice chilling out in a wardrobe
  • And a life sized bat and a real sawing saw! (very clever)
Her head is practically being sawn in two ...still sleeping...

I loved this book as a pup and it was smashing re-visiting this spooky old house.
Now must get back to dusting those cobwebs and re-arranging those skeletons in the cupboard!



Here are 3 interesting facts about Jan...
1- His lifelong interest in stage design landed numerous commissions: two shows for Theatre de Complicite, then Beauty and the Beast for The Royal Ballet, Covent Garden and a spectacular Sleeping Beauty at Disneyland, Paris
2- The first book he ever wrote at the age of 8 was about road rage
3- He is the creator of the best-selling Meg and Mog series

NB: Interestingly as we now embark on the era of the App, Haunted House was made into a CD-Rom at the time which seems to me an unusual format for a pop-up book....

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