During the day, I'm part of the team working on Folded Fables and given that the entire game takes place within a pop-up book, I've been learning a lot about pop-up books.
One evening, I was reading about the history of moveable books and was quite surprised when I saw a specific book series from the 1950s. There is a book from that series that I know very well. In fact, it is a book that I inherited and deeply love. Seeing my book listed in the history of pop-ups underscored to me how deep my connection is to the medium and the place that Folded Fables has in my heart.
You see, some of my most cherished childhood memories are of this Christmas pop-up book. It was published in 1951 (75 years ago!) and this copy was originally owned by my mom and uncle.
The book was kept at my grandparents' house, so I only got to see it when we visited for Christmas. As a child, I was entranced by it. Everything about it, including the pop-ups, was magical. I loved how it brought paper creations to life. So much so, that the paper gingerbread cookies in the book became my "ideal gingerbread cookies." I tried as hard as I could to ice my mom's real Christmas cookies like these paper cookies. Every year I got a little better!
Time passed as it does and eventually I became a parent with children of my own. The stewardship of this well-loved book passed from my grandparents to me. And when my children were young, I read it to them at Christmas time... just like it had been read to me.
So, I've known this book my whole life and yet the way it speaks to me hasn't changed. It brings imagination to life, just like it did when I was a child. It is this spark of magic, the magic that pop-up books possess that we have tried to capture in Folded Fables. I can't wait to share our creation with the world!
-Eric