Sabuda is an excellent pop-up artist. I buy his books because I think they are so cool. ( )

Amazing pop-ups for all ages. Young children learn a little geography, American history, and engineering via the verses of Katherine Lee Bates song, America the Beautiful; adults just say Wow! The visual effects overwhelm the text: the pop-ups---with string, bits of wood, silver ribbon and foil---are magnificent. Be careful---it is easily torn and broken; young children should be warned to not touch ANYTHING.

Shown are
San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge (engineering, math-the shape of the cables supporting the bridge);
the great plains (agriculture rural life, food);
Mount Rushmore (four presidents and their roles in American history, sculpture);
Mesa Verde (American Indian life, dwellings, climate, geography);
a paddle boat on the Mississippi River (transportation, commerce, geography, Industrial Revolution, boats, physics, engineering, and how slightly opening and closing the spread makes the silver ribbons/water move at the back of the boat);
The Capital, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial and reflecting pool between the latter two in Washington, D.C. (government, American History, architecture);
the Statue of Liberty with New York City's Chrysler Building, Empire State Building, and other skyscrapers in the background (symbols, France, world history, elevators, competition, cars, Emma Lazarus, poetry, immigration).

A booklet at the end has even more pop-ups and other verses of the song: World Trade Center, Liberty Bell, NASA space shuttle, and the American bald eagle. ( )