Summer and Autumn Pop-Up Books from Phaidon

 

Summer Pops Up!

by Aurone Petit

Expected Publication May 20, 2026

Phaidon Press

Fiction

Pop Up Book 

12 Pages

Review copy provided by publisher

Summary From Publisher 

Winner, 2025 Best Baby Book Prize from the French Ministry of Culture

From family trips to ocean dips, experience summer’s everyday magic in this sturdy, neon pop-up book. With playful illustrations, engaging text, and pop-up surprises that toddlers (and parents) will love!

Designed especially for little hands, this bright, bold pop-up book brims with the joy of summer in every turn of the page. Perfectly portable and shaped for toddlers’ hands, this sturdy board book features six playful pop-up scenes that leap from the pages with high-contrast neon images – the yellow of sunshine and the pink of summer sunsets.

Celebrate the magic of summertime, from a busy bee zipping between blossoms to a bumpy ride in the family van, from spreading sunscreen on our faces to enjoying bare feet on a beach, and from diving into sunset seas to counting the stars at night. This book brings all our most-loved summer moments to life in a way that’s both familiar and fresh, clever and surprising. Every page bursting with the warm wonders of the season.

With Aurore Petit’s vibrant, playful illustrations, simple, engaging text, and pop-up surprises that toddlers (and parents!) will love, this book is a sensory celebration of summer’s everyday magic.

This is the first title in Aurore Petit’s seasonal pop-up series, publishing alongside Autumn Pops Up! and to be followed soon by winter and spring-themed books.

Autumn Pops Up!

by Aurone Petit

Expected Publication July 29, 2026

Phaidon Press

Fiction

Pop Up Book 

12 Pages

Review copy provided by publisher

Summary from Publisher

From falling leaves to Halloween, experience the delights of autumn in this neon, sturdy pop-up book. With playful illustrations, engaging text, and pop-up surprises that toddlers (and parents) will love!

Designed especially for little hands, this bright, bold pop-up board book brims with the magic of autumn in every turn of the page. Perfectly portable and shaped for toddlers’ hands, this sturdy book features six playful pop-up scenes that leap from the pages with high-contrast neon images that brighten even the most dreary of days – featuring the orange of pumpkins and fallen leaves.

From autumnal walks through woods filled with mushrooms, to tucking into a steaming bowl of pumpkin soup, sharing an umbrella on a rainy day to Halloween costumes, admiring the falling leaves to watching birds fly away for warmer weather, each spread captures the joy and beauty of the season in a way that’s both familiar and fresh, clever and surprising.

With Aurore Petit’s vibrant, playful illustrations, simple, engaging text, and pop-up surprises that toddlers (and parents!) will love, this book is a sensory celebration of autumn’s everyday magic.

This is the second title in Aurore Petit’s seasonal pop-up series, publishing alongside Summer Pops Up! and to be followed soon by winter and spring-themed books.

My Thoughts

What is more fun than a pop-up book? I remember looking at pop-up books as a child and being mesmerized. I could read them over and over again. These adorable pop-ups are made for the youngest readers. I have not read them with toddlers or babies, but my kindergarteners really love them, and they have stood up to repeated use. 

Each book uses the colors of the season (bright colors for summer and muted earthtones for autumn). 

Images from Amazon.com

Young readers will love these fun seasonal pop-up books!

Who's Hiding? Under the Sea by Janet Lawler and James Weston Lewis

Who's Hiding? Under the Sea

by Janet Lawler

Illustrated by James Weston Lewis

Published by Pahidon

Expected Release April 1, 2026

Board Book

Nonfiction

12 Pages

In this nonfiction board book, young readers will learn about different animals through riddle poems. 

They will love guessing what the animals are and lifting the flaps to find out. 

The flaps are created in the shape of various ocean plants and creatures, such as anemone, kelp, and shells. The illustrations and backgrounds are colorful and show other animals and different parts of the ocean. 

Young readers will LOVE this book!

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? July 11, 2022

 

Please visit the amazing blogs: Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers who host this terrific meme each week.

Here are a couple books I read last week.  

We Are Shapes

by Melinda Beck

Published April, 2022

Phaidon Press

32 Pages

Board Book

Review copy provided by publisher

Goodreads Summary

A playful and clever board book about shapes and teamwork by a two-time Emmy-nominated children's content creator at Nickelodeon

Pitch-perfect for a preschool audience, this board book introduces shapes and explores themes of teamwork and resilience. Square, rectangle, triangle, circle, squiggly and lumpy all work together to build a house. Each shape makes a unique contribution, and collectively they achieve something that they could not do alone. With an emphasis on interpersonal development, and visually inspired by the children's books created by Russian Constructivists, this is an artful, fresh take on the evergreen topic of shapes. This charming book teaches young readers everywhere that we are far stronger together than alone.

My Thoughts

I am already thinking about using this book in my library for K-1. It offers the concept work of shapes and the attributes of shapes while also capitalizing on the theme of teamwork. The illustrations are intentionally simplistic, and each shape has its own unique personality. This will be a book kids want to hear over and over again. 

Here are some other books I read last week. Click on the cover to go to the book's page on Goodreads. 

From the 2022-2023 Maine Student Book Award List

Loved this graphic novel for younger students from the author of Mel Fell. And it's a series! 

I am kind of obsessed with all the Elephant & Piggies Like Reading series. 

 

Two Counting Books for Babies and Toddlers

10, 9, 8...Owls Up Late 
by Georgiana Deutsch
Published February, 2018
Silver Dolphin Books
Board Book
26 pages
Review copy provided by publisher

Goodreads Summary
Ten cheeky, bouncy, noisy owls are playing in a tree. It's bedtime, but they're having far too much fun to go to sleep! Uh-oh. Will Mummy Owl ever convince all her little owlets to fly down to the nest?

My Thoughts
Oh my gosh these owls are SO cute, but they are in no hurry to get to bed. Mama Owl keeps trying to get them to rest, but they always have an excuse to stay up. The book uses rich vocabulary on each page. Young readers will hear words such as chuckling, chortling, flittering, fluttering, and chittering to name a few. The rhyming and repetitive text offers a structure littles ones can learn as they read the story over and over again. Each little owl has its own look color pattern and they vary in size. Small speech bubbles are sprinkled in for a dose of dialogue. 
Little ones can count the owls in the cutouts and learn how numbers change when one is taken away. The board book is very sturdy and is just the right size for little hands. 

Image from: http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/10-9-8-Owls-Up-Late!/Georgiana-Deutsch/9781684121847

See what others have to say about this book:
The Parenting Patch
The Bookbag

Sesame Street: 5 Little Rubber Duckies
Published February, 2018
SFI Readerlink Dist

Board Book

12 pages

Review copy provided by publisher

Goodreads Summary

Join Ernie and his friends on Sesame Street as they try to find five little rubber duckies. With touch and trace elements perfect for little hands and plastic duckies to push and count along, this book is the perfect story time activity for early learners. 

My thoughts

Every kid loved Sesame Street characters. Combing their favorite characters and counting is a winning combination. Ernie's friends take turns borrowing his rubber duckies to play with. However, each time another character takes them, one seems to get misplaced. Finally all of them are missing and Ernie is sad. Then his 5 friends each return one duckie to him in the end. 
The rhyming, simple text is sure to be a hit with young readers. They will be able to count the duckies on each page and run their finger over the indented number on each page. They will also be exposed to subtraction and counting backwards. 

Another neat aspect of the book is the 5 little duckies at the top. These duckies can be moved to count, but will stay in the little box and be there for every page. I played with them and they moved very easily.

I would recommend 5 Little Rubber Duckies for babies and toddlers. 

See what others have to say about this book:

The Parenting Patch

On Honeysuckle Hill

A Rup Life

You're My Little Cuddle Bug by Nicola Edwards

You're My Little Cuddle Bug 
by Nicola Edwards
Illustrated by Natalie Marshall
Published February, 2018
Silver Dolphin Books
18 pages
Board book
Review copy provided by Media Masters


Goodreads Summary
Celebrate your little cuddle bug with this sweet and colorful rhyming board book!

Celebrate your little cuddle bug with this sweet and colorful rhyming board book! With chunky pages for little hands and die-cut cuddle bugs to add depth and interest, children will love the interactive features alongside the story.

My Thoughts
Definitely add this little board book to the library of your little one.  It compares the close relationship between caregivers and babies as each page features the love of a big and little insect. 
With rhyming verses, colorful chunky pages and cute cutouts, babies and toddlers will love hearing it over and over again. 
Grab it this spring! 

Image from Amazon.com

See what others have to say about this book:

Parenting Patch

Katie Reviews Books

Kiss the Book