The 13 Best Pop-Up Books For Kids & Adults [Reader’s Guide]

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Yes, pop-up books are typically intended for children, but really they bring out the inner child in anyone six months to 70 years old with their interactive nature.

You’ll even witness teenagers enthusiastically reading to their siblings, eager to find out what is hiding behind flips and tags throughout the story bringing it more to life.

Books are great to read to babies, but pop-up books are one million times better.

What is more engaging than a bright fuzzy monster in 3D popping out of the page? Your iPhone can’t do that!

Editors’ Top Picks

Here are our 13 favorite pop-up books for children of all ages.

Color Monster: A Pop-Up Book of Feelings

Adults will be able to relate to this pop-up book, and your kids will love the colors in The Color Monster: A Pop-up Book of Feelings. This is one of our favorite pop up books.

We all have a lot of feelings, and this pop-up book encourages kids to open up and share their feelings.

The message is known to help adults with their feelings too. Really, everyone should learn at a young age how to express their feelings and understand why they might be feeling the way they do and how to acknowledge it.

The Wide-Mouthed Frog (A Pop-Up Book)

The Wide-Mouth Frog is about a very curious frog who wants to learn more about eating and inevitably then learns about the circle of life.

This is an adorable book with a funny way of explaining animals’ eating habits. From bugs and berries to worms and flies, everyone has to eat and the wide-mouth frog learns all about his friends eating habits.

The frog better watch out for himself when he meets and learns what alligators eat!

Pop-Up Peekaboo Colors!

What child doesn’t love playing peekaboo?

Expand on the traditional game and introduce your children to a peekaboo book full of colors and new surprises under every flap.

‍Pop-Up Peekaboo! Colors is full of bright colors, animals and vivid flaps and pop-ups. This book is great for memory, imagination and interaction.

Puff, the Magic Dragon

The original dragon you know and love.

‍Puff, the Magic Dragon is a book that will bring back memories for the parents and create new ones to share with your children. This newly illustrated iteration has a fresh look on Puff, Jackie and Honalee.

Plus, you can sing along to this story and teach your kid a new song that has probably been stuck in your head at some point throughout your life.

If you haven’t read this one, the storyline takes you on a journey about caring and humanity through Puff’s adventures.

This Book Is a Planetarium: And Other Extraordinary Pop-Up Contraptions

Who doesn’t love to learn about the infinite world of outer space?

‍This Book Is a Planetarium: And Other Extraordinary Pop-Up Contraptions not only takes you on a journey through space but also has six functional paper contraptions to use.

It includes a musical instrument, a decoder ring, a spiral graph, a speaker, a perpetual calendar and, of course, a planetarium. Parents will be learning something new too as they read this book about space.

This pop-up book is full of science, fun and life-long learning.

Pop-Up Peekaboo! Farm: Pop-Up Surprise Under Every Flap! 

Watch all of your favorite animals come to life in the Pop-Up Peekaboo! Farm pop-up book.

Not only is this book educational, but the storyline and animals are so cute. You will be extremely proud of your child once they learn what sounds all of the different farm animals make.

The pop-up Peekaboo book series makes learning new things fun for children and they will be begging you to reread this one over and over again.

One Red Dot 

Similar to Where’s Waldo? But this time, it’s a red dot. One Red Dot is a book everyone can participate in searching for the red dot.

Kids will love the colors and adults will love the challenge.

This pop-up book by David A. Carter is filled with beautiful illustrations on every page and you can make the book educational at the same time. Could you ask for a bitter win-win when it comes to a pop-up adventure?

This is a book your kids will be begging you to read because it’s so captivating.

Sounds of the Wild: Bugs

Kids are fascinated with bugs. Introduce them to this story and keep them out of the dirt while learning about their favorite critters.

‍Sounds of the Wild: Bugs is a book with you guessed it, sounds!

You can learn all about the bugs in nature in addition to hearing the noises they actually make in the wild.

Putting sounds to those creepy crawlers in nature makes this book educational and applicable when they are digging for new friends in the backyard.

Animal Opposites

Just like bugs, kids love animals big and small. The Animal Opposites book walks through different animals and compares their differences.

From the fastest animal to the slowest animal and the biggest to the smallest, this book covers them all.

This book does a great job of getting the animals to actually pop off the pages and engage and encourage children to learn.

From hippos to cheetahs and snails to butterflies, the artwork will draw people of all ages into the story.

Your children will beg you to reread this one.

The Chronicles of Narnia Pop-up

Most of us have read or at least heard about the fantasy land of Narina throughout our lives.

‍The Chronicles of Narnia Pop-up brings your favorite characters to life right on the page.

Explore Narnia’s magic in a new way with 3-D pop-up. This book has incredible detail, amazing illustrations and, of course, an enchanting storyline.

This pop-up includes all seven stories and creatively showcases the magical land drawing in readers young and old.

Disney Princess: A Magical Pop-Up World

This classic pop-up book by Matthew Reinhart is one that all ages will enjoy. Disney Princess: A Magical Pop-Up World is a children’s book that will bring parents back to their childhood. With 27 different pop-up scenes, Matthew Reinhart captures the timeless princesses, fairytales and the true magic of Disney.

Known for its paper engineering, this is a beautiful pop-up book that will remain on your bookshelf for decades!

Harry Potter: A Pop-Up Guide to Hogwarts

This is one of the best pop-up books on the list. Harry Potter: A Pop-Up Guide to Hogwarts is another must-have from Matthew Reinhart. From the Hogwarts castle to the Quidditch pitch and everything in between. This is a masterpiece.

This pop-up book has an unfolding Hogwarts map and is a must-have collectible for any true Harry Potter fans. Matthew Reinhart takes his paper-engineering to the next level with this pop-up version.

Alpha Bugs: A Pop-up Alphabet

David A. Carter is known for his bug books and this pop-up book is loads of fun! With beautiful illustrations of flower bugs, bubble bugs and more, you can teach your little ones with the alphabet with pull-outs, touch and feel pieces and more!

This pop-up version is educational with the typical David A. Carter flair. The Alpha Bugs: A Pop-up Alphabet is a pop-up adventure you won’t want to miss.

Pop-up books bring stories to life in a new way and create interactive experiences for both the reader and children.

Everyone has fun learning something new with a pop-up book.

From farm animals to outer space to magical fairytales there’s a pop-up book out there for everyone to enjoy.

Get your kids hooked on books from a young age and add a few pop-up books to your bookshelf today. Trust us, you can find a pop-up book for children of all ages on this list.

You might also be interested in: The 15 Best Subscription Boxes For Kids (Ages 2-14)

Our 13 favorite pop-up books available on Amazon:

1. The Color Monster: A Pop-up Book of Feelings
2. The Wide-Mouth Frog
3. ‍Pop-Up Peekaboo! Colors
4. ‍Puff, the Magic Dragon
5. ‍This Book Is a Planetarium: And Other Extraordinary Pop-Up Contraptions
6. Pop-Up Peekaboo! Farm
7. One Red Dot
8. ‍Sounds of the Wild: Bugs
9. Animal Opposites
10. ‍The Chronicles of Narnia Pop-Up
11. Disney Princess: A Magical Pop-Up World
12. Harry Potter: A Pop-Up Guide to Hogwarts
13. Alpha Bugs: A Pop-up Alphabet