Customer Reviews

Haunted House

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Haunted House is a vivid and cleverly created pop-up book which dares its reader to embark on an imaginative rampage through a haunted mansion. Pienkowski has created an interactive world in which a woman's portrait eyes you with a playful menace, a spaghetti monster leaps from the refrigerator, and you come face to face with a hilarious blue alien. There are literally skeletons in the closet of this book! Children will love this book for its fantastic images; adults will appreciate the unique detail and craftsmanship. This is, by far, the most fascinating pop-up on the market!

I bought this fun book after I read the favorable reviews here, and I am a halloween nut. My kids and I love this book! The pop-ups are awesome and the quality of the book is excellent. What I am not quite sure of is the dialoge/storyline that goes with it. I have looked at and read this book numerous times and still have no clue who the "doctor" is...is it Dr.Frankenstein? Dr. Doolittle perhaps? I am left anxious with no idea who the mysterious doctor is and in the last page, just where did he go? I am thinking he is in the wooden box heading for Translyvania and trying in vain to saw himself out - yet when I peek into the box, I see no doctor, just a bomb with a lit fuse! Cool pop-ups but pretty bizarre story to go along with it.

Ages 3 and older will relish this scary pop-up title which is recommended for parent acquisition, as it probably won't withstand the rigors of library lending unless it's used as a display on a top shelf. Haunted House opens with a spooky pop-up staircase and moves to cover monsters and even an octopus in the bathroom. It arrived too late for Halloween mention but deserves pick as a 'keeper' for next year.

This wonderful pop-up book is now my grandchildren's favorite! The pop-up engineering is amazing. The children can open cabinet doors and closet doors(complete with 3-dimensional ghosts),make the friendly monsters move, and the octopus wash the dishes. It is a very interactive, entertaining book.

This will instantly become any young boy's favourite book, it's unreal! Girls will like it too and the pop ups are so engaging that it will even encourage any kids who don't usually like books to read - go and buy yourself a copy, you won't be sorry.

This is a fun read anytime of the year but it just seems fitting here at Halloween. Looking for something to give the little one other then candy this year? Give this book! It will last a lot longer and they will love it even more.
Both of my kids love this book! I was not sure how well it would hold up at first but after two years and a lot of abuse (pulling tabs to hard and having the monsters chase little hands) it is still in great condition. EXTREMELY well made pop-up book with little people in mind.

Ordered the book with it marked acceptable used, when received there was an issue - but after they worked with me to combat the issue, very customer service orientated!

I am now 30 years old and remember having this book as a child. I LOVED it so I wanted to add it to my book collection for my daughter. Unfortunately I found multiple movable parts broken due to being stuck together and then breaking in the un-sticking process. One page (the bedroom scene) was not threaded right and tore when I pulled the tab. The book was rather cheap when I bought it and it shows in the construction. I will probably buy it again and be very careful inspecting and unsticking the movable parts.

My 5-year-old son loves this book. It has a lot of actions going on each page. Though some picture seems disguesting to me, like the one in the kitchen; some seems voilent, like the creaking saw, my son thinks it's so cool. Only wish it has more words to read.

Jan Pienkowski, Haunted House (Candlewick, 2005)

Fun pop-up with a few surprising/inventive uses of the technique (though when considering my use of "inventive", also consider that I'm 42 and thus was most immersed in pop-up culture back in the early seventies). Would have preferred something a little closer to a story, but as a simple piece of art, it does its thing. Check it out of the library before deciding whether to add it to your permanent collection to see if the lack of story affects the kiddies' desire for repeated exposure. *** ½